Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Blocks Federal Funding Freeze
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump Administration’s efforts to freeze payments for grants and other programs. In issuing the restraining order, Judge McConnell agreed with 23 state attorneys general that a temporary restraining order remained a valid pathway despite the Administration’s rescission of the Monday OMB memo. Rhode Island Attorney General Sarah Rice argued that “whether it is by directive or silent command,” the harm of the Trump Administration’s action was the same.
The language in the temporary restraining order clearly anticipates that the Administration (the “Defendants”) might find an alternative method of freezing federal aid, specifying that it “also be restrained and prohibited from reissuing, adopting, implementing, or otherwise giving effect to the OMB Directive under any other name or title or through any other Defendants (for agency supervised, administered, or controlled by the Defendants), such as the continued implementation identified by the White House Press Secretary’s statement as of January 29, 2025.
The next step is a hearing for a preliminary injunction at which the state attorneys general and the Administration will have the opportunity to argue and present evidence for a longer-term block of the federal freeze.