US judge orders Trump administration to 'immediately restore' climate law funds

A US judge found the Trump administration has continued to improperly freeze federal spending programs, including those implicated by a Jan. 20 executive order directing agencies to pause funding disbursements under the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

In a Feb. 10 ruling, Judge John McConnell Jr., chief judge of the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island, ordered federal agencies to "immediately restore withheld funds," including federal funds appropriated by the two Biden-era energy and climate laws.

McConnell issued the ruling in response to a request for emergency relief from a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general who claimed that the Trump administration had continued to violate a temporary restraining order.

The Democratic attorneys general secured the restraining order from McConnell on Jan. 31 after the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued, and then quickly rescinded, a Jan. 27 memo implementing a broad freeze across federal grant and loan programs. A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued a similar restraining order Feb. 3 in a parallel lawsuit brought by a national nonprofit organization.

In a Feb. 7 request for emergency relief, the attorneys general noted that the Trump administration had taken the position that programs created by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) fell outside the scope of McConnell's restraining order.

"Defendants have failed to fully resume disbursing federal funds appropriated by the IRA and IIJA," the attorneys general said. They specifically cited the inability of some states to access finalized grants under the US Environmental Protection Agency's $5 billion Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program and $7 billion Solar for All program.

In response, US Justice Department attorneys contended that McConnell's restraining order does not apply to separate Jan. 21 OMB guidance. That guidance, issued six days before the OMB's Jan. 27 memo, directed agencies to pause all IRA/IIJA funding activities to comply with President Donald Trump's executive order on "unleashing" American energy.

However, McConnell was unconvinced by the government's argument.

He noted that the plain language of his Jan. 31 restraining order "prohibits all categorical pauses or freezes in obligations or disbursements" based on the OMB's Jan. 27 directive or Trump's executive orders.

"The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country," McConnell said. "These pauses in funding violate the plain text of the [temporary restraining order]."

McConnell further warned that "persons who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk criminal contempt even if the order is ultimately ruled incorrect."

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called McConnell's Feb. 10 ruling "unequivocal." "The Trump administration must fully comply with the court's order and immediately restore all federal funding while our litigation continues," Bonta said in a statement.

An EPA spokesperson said the agency is reviewing the ruling.