A federal judge in Rhode Island on Wednesday reaffirmed his order to halt President Donald Trump's funding freeze.
In his new decision, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. upheld his temporary restraining order and denied the Trump administration's request to continue withholding "FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] and other funding," WJAR reported.
McConnell also pointed out his previous order allows the administration "to limit access to federal funds 'on the basis of the applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms,'" and that his follow up order does not block "both the President and much of the Federal Government from exercising their own lawful authorities to withhold funding without the prior approval of the district court."
McConnell's ruling came after the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston late Tuesday rejected a Trump administration push to reinstate a sweeping pause on federal funding.
The appeals court turned back the emergency appeal, the latest in a string of court decisions that is slowing Trump's wide-ranging agenda.
The appeals court also said it expected the lower court judge to clarify his original order.
The Trump administration quickly pushed to withhold FEMA money sent to New York City to house migrants, saying it had "significant concerns" about the spending under a program appropriated by Congress.
The Justice Department had previously asked the appeals court to let it implement sweeping pauses on federal grants and loans, calling the lower court order to keep promised money flowing "intolerable judicial overreach."
McConnell on Monday ordered administration officials to comply with what he called "the plain text" of a ruling he issued on Jan. 29, The New York Times reported.
McConnell is presiding over a lawsuit from nearly two dozen Democrat states filed after the administration issued a boundary-pushing memo purporting to halt all federals grants and loans, worth trillions of dollars.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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