By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from firing workers and taking other steps to shut down federal agencies that fund museums and libraries, mediate labor disputes and support minority-owned businesses.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, agreed with 21 mostly Democrat-led states that Trump’s March executive order directing that the agencies effectively be wiped out violated the U.S. Constitution.
“This executive order … 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,” wrote McConnell, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama.
The judge halted Trump’s order from being implemented at the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service pending the outcome of the case.
McConnell did not order the agencies to take any specific steps. The judge told the states to consult with the Trump administration and submit a more detailed order for his approval.
Trump in his order directed that those agencies and four others be reduced “to the minimum presence and function required by law.” A judge in Washington, D.C. last week had separately blocked the museum and library agency from being shut down.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said McConnell had defied U.S. Supreme Court precedent by blocking Trump from closing elements of the federal bureaucracy.
“The lower court’s outrageous order will not be the last say on the matter,” Ingle said in a statement.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, a Democrat whose office is leading the lawsuit, called the decision a critical win for the public.
“When the Trump Administration attempts to dismantle these agencies, it is making a targeted, concerted effort to prohibit everyday people from accessing their full potential,” Neronha said in a statement.
Trump’s executive order was part of his broader effort to dramatically shrink the federal government and slash government spending. Tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, placed on leave indefinitely or accepted buyouts to leave their jobs.
At the three agencies involved in Tuesday’s case, virtually all employees were placed on administrative leave shortly after Trump issued his executive order, according to court filings.
The states in their lawsuit filed in April say that because Congress created the agencies and set their funding levels, Trump had no power to order that their work be halted.
McConnell on Tuesday agreed. Federal law includes a mechanism for the president to return unneeded funding to Congress, the judge said, but Trump failed to follow that process.
State libraries and museums have abandoned programs and implemented hiring freezes, business development offices are curbing training and other support programs, and state agencies have fewer options to mediate disputes with unions, McConnell said.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
