I’m passing alongside this data from an legal professional on the present standing of the short-term freeze blocking the withholding of federal funding from many packages, for readers who discover this convenient.
Present Standing
Short-term freeze on the the federal OMB resolution to pause funding to sure federal packages, together with federal grants, runs via 5 p.m. Monday (February 3, 2025).
- There will likely be arguments on Monday morning that would prolong the freeze for 2 extra weeks.
- Arguments is not going to be about whether or not the freeze was authorized. As an alternative, the choose will hear extra fleshed-out arguments from a coalition of nonprofit teams about why she ought to challenge a short lived restraining order.
- The headline for nonprofits: you’ve till Monday to spend after which probably at the very least two extra weeks to spend the place you’re assured reimbursement (“assured” used loosely).
- The Justice Division’s present argument is that grantees “hadn’t proven that any delay in receiving federal funds would power them to shut their doorways or lay off employees members.”
Court docket Case
Federal Decide Loren AliKhan, US District Court docket, DC
Order doesn’t seem like posted.
Events: Justice Dept. v Nationwide Council of Nonprofits, American Public Well being Affiliation (APHA), Principal Road Alliance, and LGBTQ+ group SAGE
Authorized Points
Irreparable Hurt to Nonprofits
Arguments is not going to be about whether or not the freeze was authorized. As an alternative, the Nationwide Council of Nonprofits states that the pause “could have a devastating affect on tons of of 1000’s of grant recipients who depend upon the influx of grant cash (cash already obligated and already awarded) to meet their missions, pay their staff, pay their lease — and, certainly, enhance the day-to-day lives of the many individuals they work so arduous to serve.”
Different points raised
- The Memo fails to clarify the supply of OMB’s purported authorized authority to intestine each grant program within the federal authorities.
- It fails to contemplate the reliance curiosity of the numerous grant recipients, together with these to whom cash had already been promised.
- It broadcasts a coverage of focusing on grant recipients based mostly partly on these recipients’ First Modification rights and with no bearing on the recipients’ eligibility to obtain federal funds..
Applications Affected
An alleged inside memo references “all actions associated to obligation or disbursement of all Federal monetary help, and different related company actions that could be implicated by [President Trump’s] govt orders, together with, however not restricted to, monetary help for international support, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the inexperienced new deal.”