Trump admin says judge's order on federal funding freeze is a clear violation of the Constitution's separation of powers

Source: Law & Crime

Feb 11th, 2025, 10:26 am


The Justice Department is imploring a federal appeals court to halt a lower court’s order directing the government to “immediately” restore large swathes of federal funding across multiple agencies, referring to the judge’s order as an “extraordinary usurpation of the President’s executive power.”

In a scathing 23-page motion filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the DOJ took aim at U.S. District Judge John McConnell’s allegedly “unprecedented” power grab, asking the appeals court to issue an administrative stay that would stop McConnell’s order from taking effect by 10 a.m. Tuesday.

“This appeal arises from an extraordinary and unprecedented assertion of power by a single district court judge to superintend and control the Executive Branch’s spending of federal funds, in clear violation of the Constitution’s separation of powers,” the filing states. “To put a halt to this intolerable judicial overreach, this Court should stay the orders under review pending disposition of this appeal, and should enter an immediate administrative stay of the orders until the motion for stay pending appeal is resolved.”

Earlier in the day Monday, McConnell granted a “motion for enforcement,” ordering the administration to “immediately restore frozen funding” and “end any federal funding pause” during the pendency of the temporary restraining order he first issued on Jan. 31. In that order, the Barack Obama-appointed judge reasoned that the spending freeze was both unconstitutional and in violation of a federal law that blocks government action deemed “arbitrary and capricious.”

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/intolerable-judicial-overreach-trump-admin-says-judges-order-on-federal-funding-freeze-is-a-clear-violation-of-the-constitutions-separation-of-powers/