A Rhode Island judge has ordered that the Trump administration, in attempting to dismantle several federal agencies set up by Congress, exceeded its constitutional authority.
In a 47-page order released Friday, U.S. District of Rhode Island Judge John J. McConnell Jr. wrote that the Trump administration could not dismantle federal agencies to fund museums and libraries, mediate labor disputes, support minority-owned businesses and prevent and end homelessness.
“By now, the question presented in this case is a familiar one: may the Executive Branch undertake such actions in circumvention of the will of the Legislative Branch?” McConnell wrote in the order. “In recent months, this Court—along with other courts across the country—has concluded that it may not. That answer remains the same here.”
The lawsuit was made up of 21 states including Massachusetts suing the Trump administration challenging the legal authority of an executive order titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy‚” which among other things tried to dismantle the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. The executive order withheld “already appropriated federal funding” to the agencies, the judge’s order stated.
The court previously issued an preliminary injunction against this order.
McConnell is the same judge that ruled the Trump administration needed to use available funds to fund the SNAP program at the end of October.
In his ruling Friday, Judge McConnell relied on a 2018 ruling against Trump in a lawsuit put forward by San Francisco. That ruling stated “Absent congressional authorization, the administration may not redistribute or withhold properly appropriated funds in order to effectuate its own policy goals.”
He also borrowed from the U.S. Constitution:
“Under the Constitution, the President is required to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed,’” the judge wrote, adding that funding those agencies fell within those laws.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell took a victory lap on Saturday, stating in a release: “Massachusetts is home to some of the best public libraries and museums in the country that employ residents, provide educational opportunities and resources, and drive our creative economy. I’m proud to protect our cultural institutions and other essential services provided by these agencies and I will continue to hold the Trump Administration accountable for unlawful actions that harm our state.”
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