R.I. federal judge blocks Trump order to dismantle four federal agencies

A Rhode Island federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from dismantling four congressionally-created agencies that fund cultural institutions, aid minority-owned businesses, mediate labor disputes, and fight homelessness.

In a permanent injunction issued Friday, Rhode Island U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. wrote that President Donald Trump exceeded his constitutional authority when trying to lay off nearly all of the workers from those agencies.

“By now, the question presented in this case is a familiar one: May the executive branch undertake such actions in circumvention of the will of the legislative branch?” McConnell, an Obama appointee, wrote. “In recent months, this court — along with other courts across the country — has concluded that it may not. That answer remains the same here.”

Trump in March issued an executive order calling for the elimination “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,” of seven government entities. That included four mandated by Congress: the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Minority Business Development Agency, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha along with Democratic attorneys general from 21 other states sued the administration in April arguing that the order violated the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act by attempting to override Congress.

The two other lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Attorney General Letitia James of New York and Attorney General Anne Lopez of Hawaii. Joining the lawsuit were attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Neronha on Friday celebrated McConnell’s final ruling.

“In courts across the country and here in Rhode Island, we continue to find that we are right on the law and right on the principle,” he said in a statement. “Each of these agencies serve a vital role that the president cannot simply erase with the stroke of a pen.”

White House spokesperson Kush Desai Monday said in an emailed statement to Rhode Island Current that the Trump administration “will continue using the full powers of the executive branch to prevent government waste” and that officials look forward to “ultimate victory” in court on the matter. But Desai did not say the administration would appeal the ruling.

“The president has a duty to ensure that American tax dollars are not being wasted or spent on illegal or unconstitutional programs,” Desai said.

It’s the same argument attorneys for the administration had tried to make in Providence court, stating in filings there was no particular statute limiting an agency’s discretion to make independent staffing decisions.

McConnell contended that the decision to eliminate agency programs, terminate grants, and implement large-scale staff reductions undermined their ability to perform functions as mandated by Congress.

“This is clearly not an action committed to agency discretion by law, and many courts have reached the same conclusion in similar cases,” he wrote.

Federal attorneys also tried to make the case that plaintiff states had failed to demonstrate any irreparable harm they would face should the court fail to intervene. At most, the Trump administration argued that state issues amounted to contract disputes .

McConnell pointed to the evidence submitted by the 21 states as proof that the dismantling of agency duties will have a significant impact.

New Mexico, New Jersey, Maine, and Oregon said in court documents that their public libraries would have to close branches, implement hiring freezes, and stop providing services that aim to foster literacy and support learning if the Institute of Museum and Library Service was dismantled.

Rhode Island’s Office of Library and Information Services received nearly $1.5 million from the institute in 2024 — funding that supported 50 percent of its staff, according to an April statement from Neronha’s office.

Without funding from the Minority Business Development Agency, plaintiffs had argued state universities in Hawaii, Maryland and Arizona would have to eliminate their student programming, default on contracts, and fire many of their employees.

Michigan, New York and Wisconsin all claimed their research into helping unhoused communities would come to a halt without assistance from the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Without federal meditators, McConnell wrote that Rhode Island, Illinois and Minnesota face the very real prospect of strikes and negotiation impasses should they be unable to tap into Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services.

At the time the lawsuit was filed, Neronha’s office noted the Rhode Island Department of Children Youth and Families avoided a strike from one of its unions because of federal mediation.

“All this to say: The injuries alleged are to the states themselves and are far more than merely economic or speculative,” McConnell wrote.