Trump takes yet another court loss as judges reject funding freezes

President Donald Trump took yet another loss in court on Wednesday evening, reported The New York Times — this time concerning his bid to unblock his federal spending freezes.

The federal appeals court ruling marks the latest in a suit being pursued by a coalition of roughly two dozen Democratic state attorneys general, who challenged a number of Trump's unilateral funding cuts, including to disaster relief by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"The decision denied a request from the Trump administration to stay a ruling by Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the Federal District Court for the District of Rhode Island this month," reported Zach Montague. "Judge McConnell found that the administration had effectively subverted Congress in choking off funds in ways that jeopardized state governments and the services they provide their residents."

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"Even if we were to set aside the harms to the Plaintiff-States' residents, the District Court still found a number of harms that the Plaintiff-States themselves would irreparably suffer," said the opinion. "These harms included the obligation of new debt; the inability to pay existing debt; impediments to planning, hiring, and operations; and disruptions to research projects by state universities. And the Defendants do not contend that these harms are not 'substantial' or 'irreparable,' except by asserting that '[the Plaintiff-States] will receive any funds that agencies are legally obligated to disburse.' But without supporting explanations for how and when the Plaintiff-States could recoup those funds, the movants have not met their burden."

This ruling marks the second appeals court loss the Trump administration was handed just today.

Earlier in the afternoon, a federal appeals court in the District of Columbia similarly refused to lift a block imposed by District Judge James Boasberg on the mass deportation of individuals the Trump administration declared, without meaningful due process, to be members of the Venezuelan transnational crime gang Tren de Aragua.