A federal judge has temporarily barred President Donald Trump’s administration from dramatically shrinking three agencies that fund libraries across the U.S., settle labor disputes with public sector workers, and support state business contracting programs.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell, Jr. in Rhode Island said Trump can’t unilaterally end the funding and programs for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. All three agencies were established by Congress.
The agencies carried out the cuts under the direction of an executive order from Trump. In Tuesday’s preliminary injunction, McConnell said the actions were likely arbitrary and capricious because the agencies weren’t able to provide more than “vague” justifications for the sweeping cuts.
“It also disregards the fundamental constitutional role of each of the branches of our federal government; specifically, it ignores the unshakable principles that Congress makes the law and appropriates funds, and the Executive implements the law Congress enacted and spends the funds Congress appropriated,” McConnell wrote.
Twenty-one states sued over Trump’s March 14 executive order, which directed the agencies to eliminate every program that isn’t mandated by law and to cut staffers and all other functions to the bare minimum allowed by statute. The states said the “shredding” of the agencies puts hundreds of millions of dollars of grant funding at risk and hurts the general public. Threatened programs include a braille library in Washington, a literacy program in California, and a program supporting veterans in Rhode Island, according to the lawsuit.
But attorneys for the government told the judge that the lawsuit is too broad, in part because some of the states are contending that specific grants have been terminated but others are simply anticipating future increased costs or that some grants may not be renewed.
In some cases, U.S. Department of Justice attorneys wrote in court filings, the various grant recipients haven’t even requested payment of the grants yet. Disputes over personnel claims, like employee terminations or reductions in force, must first be litigated before other entities before they can be brought to federal court, the attorneys wrote, suggesting the states were trying to “jump the line.”
The ruling is consistent with one handed down last week in a similar case out of Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon also temporarily stopped the Trump administration from shuttering the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Leon said the American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees were likely to succeed in their lawsuit contending that Trump doesn’t have the legal authority to shut down the congressionally created agency.
