Another federal court has stopped the Trump administration from withholding federal loans and grants.
The order issued Thursday by the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island follows a similar rebuke last month against the administration’s funding freeze by a federal judge in Washington.
Chief Judge John McConnell of the Rhode Island District Court said the administration’s attempt to freeze funds that had been appropriated by Congress under statutes such as the Inflation Reduction Act usurps the Constitution’s balance of powers between the three branches of government.
“The interaction of the three co-equal branches of government is an intricate, delicate, and sophisticated balance — but it is crucial to our form of constitutional governance,” wrote McConnell, an Obama appointee. “Here, the Executive put itself above Congress.”
