Judge says White House defying order to spend funds

What happened

A federal judge in Rhode Island said Monday that the White House was not complying with his order to release billions in congressionally approved federal grants that President Donald Trump froze in a controversial executive order.

The rebuke marked the first time a judge "expressly declared" that the Trump administration was "disobeying a judicial mandate," The New York Times said.

Who said what

U.S. District Judge John McConnell said the Trump administration's ongoing and "likely unconstitutional" pauses in funding "violate the plain text" of his Jan. 31 restraining order, and he ordered the White House to "immediately take every step necessary to effectuate" the "clear and unambiguous" directive.

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The federal judiciary has "emerged as a major early bulwark against Trump's assertion of vast executive authority," The Washington Post said. Trump has "lost nearly every battle in court" so far. But McConnell's ruling "highlighted concerns" that the administration is "defying court orders that have sought to slow the rollout of Trump policies," The Wall Street Journal said. The case could "evolve quickly into a high-stakes showdown between the executive and judicial branches," the Times said, especially given Vice President J.D. Vance's suggestion on Sunday that Trump ignore certain judicial orders.

What next?

McConnell's order was "essentially a nudge," the Times said, and the next step could be ordering administration officials to explain why they weren't in contempt of court, followed by fines or, theoretically, imprisonment. The Justice Department appealed the decision to the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.