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The statement, along with a similar order from Friday, amounted to a rebuke of the move as an overreach that likely lacked legitimate authority.
Charlie Savage writes about presidential power and legal policy.
- Feb. 3, 2025, 3:56 p.m. ET
A federal judge said on Monday that she intended to temporarily block the Trump administration from imposing a sweeping freeze on trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans, adding to the pushback against an effort by the White House’s Office and Management and Budget.
The statement by the judge, Loren L. AliKhan of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, came hours after the Justice Department told a federal judge in Rhode Island who issued a similar order on Friday that the government interpreted his order as applying to all spending nationally, not just to funds for the states that brought that case.
Together, the signals from federal judges amounted to a two-fisted rebuke of the move by the budget office as an overreach that likely lacked legitimate authority.
Judge AliKhan, a Biden appointee, made her statement at the end of a nearly 90-minute hearing on Monday, saying she wanted to file her order before an earlier administrative stay expires at 5 p.m. The case before her was brought by charities and other nongovernmental organizations that rely at least in part on federal grants to operate.
The hearing was the latest turn in a fast-moving set of events since the Trump administration issued the spending freeze last week, paralyzing groups around the country and prompting chaos. After the legal challenges were filed, the Trump administration said it had rescinded the O.M.B. memo and asked judges to dismiss the lawsuits as moot.
But the plaintiffs have presented evidence that the blanket freeze imposed by the memo appears to remain in effect regardless.
