Rhode Island court blocks Trump order cutting funding to libraries, museums

(CN) — The Rhode Island District Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked the implementation of an executive order that sought to dismantle three federal agencies “well past the studs,” eliminating programs they are bound by the law to carry out.

A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general sued President Donald Trump in April to block the March executive order, titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” claiming that the president was far overreaching his authority.

The three federal agencies provide grants and other funding to public libraries, museums, workers and minority-owned businesses across the country. Each one was established by Congress, has a detailed list of statutory duties and was appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the states.

The executive order required the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to reduce their functions and personnel to “the minimum presence and function required by law” within seven days.

On Tuesday, Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. granted the coalition’s motion for preliminary injunction, deciding that the executive order violates the Administrative Procedures Act and the separation of powers doctrine.

“Once again, this court is confronted with a legal challenge by various states against an executive order that attempts to dismantle congressionally sanctioned agencies and ignores congressionally appropriated funds,” the Barack Obama appointee wrote in the 49-page opinion.

The decision is the latest blow to Trump’s mission to shrink the federal government and test the limits of his executive powers. Here, McConnell Jr. weighed the states’ likelihood of success on the merits, the risk of irreparable harm to the agencies and the public interest against Trump’s agenda.

The administration argued that the executive order and the agency actions taken to comply with it are neither discrete nor final, excluding them from judicial review. This, however, did not satisfy the court.

The coalition narrowly tailored its challenge to focus on the policy that requires the agencies to eliminate “all functions and components not mandated by statute, and of dramatically reducing their remaining functions” across the board. This, plus the countless legal consequences of the actions taken to comply with the order, make the lawsuit ripe for review, according to McConnell Jr.

In the days following the executive order’s publication, the named agencies were forced to reduce staff by 80-90% and cease processing or distributing grants entirely, according to the states.

State librarians were notified by email that the museum and library institute would not be able to respond to their inquiries due to the entire staff being placed on administrative leave. The agency also terminated over 1,000 grants with a cookie-cutter letter simply stating that the funding was “no longer consistent with the [agency’s] priorities,” pointing to the executive order.

At federal mediation services, an agency tasked with helping public sector employees with collective bargaining, employment disputes and EEOC complaints, all services were suddenly halted after the staff of 200 was reduced to 15, according to McConnell Jr.

McConnell Jr. also found that the states had a reasonable likelihood of success in permanently enjoining the agencies from terminating every program without cause, offering some hope to museums, libraries and workers across the country.

“By unlawfully attacking these agencies, they are attempting to stifle the American dream. We won’t let them, and neither should you," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha said in a statement.

Though each agency claims to continue to carry out its statutory functions, McConnell Jr. says he does not see how that could be proven true in court with the staff each agency is left with.

Tuesday’s injunction is a win for Democrats attempting to rein in Trump’s agenda, but there are several lawsuits still pending that seek to challenge similar encroachments on congressional powers.

Since January, many of Trump’s cuts and freezes to federal funding have been blocked or altogether halted by judges across the country, sometimes earning them online vitriol from the president and his supporters.

Biomedical research funding was reinstated in February, green energy grants were released in April and a first circuit judge continues to keep a general funding freeze for “DEI, woke gender ideology, and the Green New Deal” on ice.

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