A second judge prevented President Donald Trump’s administration from enacting a broad freeze on grant, loan, and other financial support spending on Thursday, dealing the administration yet another setback in its attempts to freeze federal funding for programs that do not fit the Republican agenda.
At the request of Democratic attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia, US District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, issued an injunction preventing the administration from adopting or reissuing the funding freeze that was initially announced in a since-retracted White House budget office memo.
Following another judge’s ruling in Washington on February 25, McConnell’s ruling expanded upon a previous temporary restraining order he issued on January 31.
