Federal court blocks Trump from dismantling four agencies

By Dave Mason
The Center Square

A federal court has issued a permanent injunction stopping the Trump administration from dismantling four federal agencies that deal with issues varying from libraries to homelessness.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island ruled the executive branch violated the Administrative Procedure Act, as well as the U.S. Constitution’s Take Care Clause and Separation of Powers doctrine, when it tried to dismantle the federally funded agencies without congressional approval. The agencies are the 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. Separation of Powers gives Congress control over federal spending, and the Take Care Clause entrusts the president with enforcing Congress’ laws.

The court’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Democratic attorneys general from California, New York, Arizona, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington state and Wisconsin. The lead plaintiffs were Attorneys General Letitia James of New York, Anne Lopez of Hawaii and Peter Neronha of Rhode Island.

The district court ruling blocks the federal government from dismantling four of the seven agencies listed in President Donald Trump’s March 14 executive order, “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureacracy.”

“This case concerns the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle federal agencies that are responsible for, among other things, funding museums and libraries, mediating labor disputes, supporting minority-owned businesses, and preventing and ending homelessness in the United States,” U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. wrote Friday in the ruling. “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? 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 filed on April 4. The U.S. District Court for Rhode Island issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agencies on May 13. On Sept. 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit denied the Trump administration’s stay on the injunction pending its appeal.

In the new ruling, McConnell said the federal government is barred from acting to dismantle the agencies.

Democratic attorneys general applauded the court’s 47-page ruling.

“The federal government’s illegal attack on these agencies threatened vital resources for workers, small businesses, and the most vulnerable in our communities,” said James in New York in a news release.

“More and more, courts are rejecting — definitively and permanently — the Trump Administration’s illegal efforts to dismantle our government agencies and strip away the vital services they provide,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a news release.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes noted judges, often conservative ones, are siding with attorneys general in their lawsuits against Trump.

Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement that the ruling “reaffirms that the President can’t reverse the will of the people and their elected representatives with the stroke of a pen.”