Judge John McConnell ordered the government to restore frozen funds while citing a Supreme Court case about contempt fo
Very interesting article that I missed reading earlier.
Federal judge says Trump administration violated court order in funds freeze litigation
Judge John McConnell ordered the government to restore frozen funds while citing a Supreme Court case about contempt for noncompliance with court orders.
https://msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/judge-trump-violated-funding-freeze-order-appeal-rcna191533 via @msnbc
Feb. 10, 2025, 3:35 PM CST
By Jordan Rubin
UPDATE (Feb. 12, 2025, 9:33 a.m. ET): .............
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What happens if the Trump administration defies court orders? The question is top of mind these days, after statements from Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance broadly raised the possibility. On Monday, we got the beginnings of an answer to the question of how the courts might push back if judges believe their orders aren’t being followed.
That answer came in litigation over the administration’s federal funds freeze, where a Rhode Island judge previously issued a temporary restraining order against the government. The plaintiff states who brought the case subsequently told the federal district’s chief judge, in a motion to enforce the order, that they “continue to be denied access to federal funds.” The government defendants opposed the motion, saying they had made “good-faith, diligent efforts to comply with the injunction across the broad spectrum of Federal financial assistance implicated by the Court’s Order.”
Siding with the states, Judge John McConnell issued an order on Monday granting the enforcement motion. The Obama appointee wrote that the government defendants had violated his “clear and unambiguous” order and that the states presented evidence that the government has “continued to improperly freeze federal funds and refused to resume disbursement of appropriated federal funds.” He ordered the defendants to immediately restore frozen funds.
Naturally, the question arises, what happens if they don’t? The judge seemed to answer the question somewhat obliquely at the very beginning of his written order, where he quoted from a Supreme Court case about a lawyer being held in contempt. Putting an emphasis on a line from the case that said “all orders and judgments of courts must be complied with promptly,” McConnell went on to quote from the high court ruling: “Persons who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk criminal contempt even if the order is ultimately ruled incorrect.”..........................