Trump administration cannot implement 'sweeping' funding freeze, US court rules

A federal appeals court on Monday largely upheld a ruling that blocked a "sweeping and unprecedented" freeze on trillions of dollars in government financial assistance that President Donald Trump's administration instituted early last year.



A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Democratic officials from 23 states and the District of Columbia in finding that the White House's budget office had directed federal agencies to implement a categorical freeze on funding that was likely improper.



Chief U.S. Circuit Judge David Barron said the Office of Management and Budget "directed the agency defendants to freeze such funds without considering an obvious aspect of the problem -- namely, the reliance interests of the recipients of the obligated federal funds that were to be frozen."



The judge, who like the other panel members was appointed by a Democratic president, pointed to a lower-court judge's conclusion that the agencies failed in carrying out OMB's directive to assess whether such payments were legally required or appropriate on a case-by-case basis.