A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a push from President Donald Trump to pause federal funding while his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological review to uproot progressive initiatives.

The Trump administration plan plunged the U.S. government into panic and confusion and set the stage for a constitutional clash over control of taxpayer money.

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The order from U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan came minutes before the funding freeze was scheduled to go into effect. The administrative stay lasts until Monday afternoon and applies only to existing programs.

Administration officials said the decision to halt loans and grants — a financial lifeline for local governments, schools and nonprofit organizations around the country — was necessary to ensure that spending complies with Trump’s recent blitz of executive orders. The Republican president wants to increase fossil fuel production, remove protections for transgender people and end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

But a vaguely worded memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget, combined with incomplete answers from the White House throughout the day, left lawmakers, public officials and average Americans struggling to figure out what programs would be affected by the pause. Even temporary interruptions in funding could cause layoffs or delays in public services.

AliKhan, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said in halting the freeze, “It seems like the federal government currently doesn’t actually know the full extent of the programs that are going to be subject to the pause.”

Jessica Morton, an attorney for the National Council of Nonprofits which brought the suit, said the group has tens of thousands of members around the country that could be affected.

New York Attorney General Letitia James planned to ask a Manhattan federal court to block the funding pause. Separately, a group of nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit in Washington saying that the funding pause is “devoid of any legal basis or the barest rationale.”

Reporting by Chris Megerian, Associated Press.

Other headlines for Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025:

• The Arab American Civil Rights League is warning immigrants in metro Detroit to keep papers with them showing how long they have been in the U.S.
• The Justice Department has shut down a program that helped local immigrants navigate the U.S. legal system, the Detroit Free Press reports.
• The owners of the Detroit concert hall Harpo’s are apologizing for hosting a show with ties to fascism and white supremacy, The Metro Times reports.

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