On Thursday a federal judge in Chicago issued a temporary injunction blocking the Trump administration from moving forward with $600 million in cuts to public health grant funding directed to four Democratic-led states.
U.S. District Judge Manish Shah wrote that the states - California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota - are likely to prevail in a lawsuit asserting that the funding reductions were intended as punishment for those states' perceived opposition to federal immigration enforcement policies. The order bars the federal government from implementing the contested cuts for 14 days while the litigation proceeds in court.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, seeks to preserve grant streams managed through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the complaint, the funds are used for monitoring public health threats, responding to disease outbreaks and planning for emergencies that affect public health. Programs named in the dispute include those that support HIV prevention and surveillance.
The Department of Health and Human Services - the agency responsible for overseeing CDC spending - did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The injunction follows other judicial pushes against the administration's funding actions. The article notes that the president has on multiple occasions tried to withhold federal dollars from states led by Democrats, and that lower court judges have previously blocked similar attempts. Last month, a judge issued a temporary order preventing the administration from freezing more than $10 billion in federal childcare and family assistance funds for five Democratic-led states - a move the administration tied to concerns about fraud.
Also noted in the litigation context is a recent comment from the president warning so-called "sanctuary cities or states" that funding would begin to be halted in February. The president said such jurisdictions foster what he described as "fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come."
The current ruling preserves the status quo for two weeks while the court examines whether the states' claim - that the funding decisions were retaliatory in motive - will carry legal weight through the next stages of the case.
Summary
A federal judge in Chicago issued a 14-day injunction stopping the administration from cutting $600 million in CDC-administered public health grants to California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota while a lawsuit alleging retaliatory intent is litigated.