Associated Press reports, a federal judge in Rhode Island yesterday issued a pretrial ruling that federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Interior Department, and Energy Department, have unlawfully frozen grant funds and ordered them to resume disbursements. US District Judge Mary McElroy is presiding over a lawsuit brought by several conservation and community organizations that received Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) grants during the Biden administration. The judge’s preliminary injunction prohibiting further withholding of funds has immediate and nationwide effect with respect to all IRA and IIJA grants.
According to the article, Judge McElroy, who happens to be a Trump appointee, held that the grant recipients “demonstrated that the freeze was ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and that the powers asserted by the federal agencies, including the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, in halting the payouts were not found in federal law.” Her memorandum rejects Trump administration claims of broad powers to control congressionally authorized spending and finds that the defendant agencies “failed to consider the practical consequences of the freeze, showing a lack of reasoned decision-making.”
POLITICO also covers this story, noting that administration spokespersons did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case is captioned as Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, et al. v. US Agriculture Dep’t, et al., No. 1:25-cv-00097-MSM-PAS (D.R.I 2025)