In a huge win for environmental advocates, a federal judge on Monday ruled that the Trump administration must restore $176 million in grants to six cities and 13 nonprofits across the United States.
The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the first permanent injunctions challenging an administration that has frozen funding, dismantled agencies and fired federal employees, Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) said in a press release.
“This is a huge victory for these organizations who can now get back to work improving their communities. While defendants have announced their intent to appeal this ruling, SELC’s team is energized and ready to continue this fight all the way to the Supreme Court until all the grants represented in our case are restored once and for all,” said Kym Meyer, SELC’s litigation director, in the press release.
Judge Gergel said a final judgment ordering the administration to immediately restore the funding would be issued within a few days, reported Inside Climate News.
The Trump administration admitted its decision to cancel the grants based on executive orders was a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Meyer said the judgment was “a ruling that reaffirms that the executive branch doesn’t have the authority to disregard Congress,” as Inside Climate News reported.
The original complaint filed by the Public Rights Project and Southern Environmental Law Center in March on behalf of the nonprofits and municipalities challenged the unlawful funding freeze that forced plaintiffs to furlough employees and suspend programs that provide support to communities, public health and farmers.
“Continued freezes and disruptions to our work would be catastrophic and equivalent to the government turning its back on the housing, jobs, and other economic, environmental, and social impacts that are set to be delivered,” said Bryan Cordell, executive director of the Sustainability Institute, a nonprofit based in North Charleston, South Carolina, in another press release from SELC.
Plaintiffs claimed that executive orders signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year freezing the funds amounted to “unlawful interference by the executive branch” and violated the right to free speech protected by the First Amendment.
The 32 grants reinstated by Monday’s decision were awarded under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Six grants that had been terminated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Climate Smart-Commodities program were not reinstated by the ruling. The USDA program was cancelled last month over concerns about “inefficient spending” and its alignment with the priorities of the administration.
The court indicated to SELC that it would consider its claims regarding the grants after testimony was taken from the administration.
SELC said it “feels confident that the evidence will reveal the determination of these grants was also illegal.”
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