Another Democrat-leaning judge has thwarted President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal government.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell ruled against the commander-in-chief as he attempted to eliminate seven federal agencies, ruling in favor of 21 Democratic-led states that sued the administration after Trump’s executive order in March that targeted the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).
The 21 Democratic state attorneys general claimed that dismantling the agencies – and the resulting layoffs and grant freezes – violated the separation of powers. In his ruling on Tuesday, McConnell, an appointee of former President Obama, agreed.
“It also disregards the fundamental constitutional role of each of the branches of our federal government; specifically, it ignores the unshakable principles that Congress makes the law and appropriates funds, and the Executive implements the law Congress enacted and spends the funds Congress appropriated,” the judge wrote, according to The Hill.
These liberal, blue state judges are a threat to democracy. They’re undermining the will of the voters and deciding that some branches of the government are more equal than others.
“US judge blocks Trump from shuttering three small federal agencies” https://t.co/bJLaZ8T7u2
— Jason Miller (@JasonMiller) May 7, 2025
“In response to a separate lawsuit, another federal judge last week paused plans for layoffs at the IMLS, but McConnell’s order is the first to also block the dismantling of the other two agencies,” the outlet reported. “The judge also refused the Trump administration’s threshold arguments it contended prevented the court from considering the lawsuit, including that the states have no legal standing to sue and that the case must be pursued in the Court of Federal Claims.”
“The States have presented compelling evidence illustrating that the harms stemming from the dismantling of IMLS, MBDA, and FMCS are already unfolding or are certain to occur, in light the significant reduction in personnel available and competent to administer these agencies’ funds and services and the elimination of certain programs that served the States,” McConnell wrote in Tuesday’s ruling.
“Once again, this Court is confronted with a legal challenge by various states, against an Executive Order that attempts to dismantle congressionally sanctioned agencies and ignores congressionally appropriated funds,” he noted.
The lawsuit by the AGs, filed in federal court in Rhode Island, was led by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha (D), New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez, a Democrat.
“President Trump is leading a campaign to dismantle vast swaths of the federal government. He has directed agencies to freeze the expenditure of funds appropriated by Congress, orchestrated the mass firings of federal probationary employees without following the requisite statutory procedures, and ordered agency after agency established by Congress … to be shut down,” the complaint read..
“But whatever the President’s policy preferences, he cannot override the congressional enactments that authorize federal agencies, appropriate funds for them to administer, and define how they must operate,” the filing added.
