HUGE VICTORY for libraries!

 In recent months the Trump administration has tried to dismantle the network of libraries in the United States of America. A temporary injunction had been issued to stop the administration while a judge looked over the case. The injunction has since become permanent. I'm posting the Rhode Island judge's summary below.


MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOHN J. MCCONNELL, JR., United States District Court Chief Judge. 

This case concerns the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle federal agencies that are responsible for, among other things, funding museums and libraries, mediating labor disputes, supporting minority-owned businesses, and preventing and ending homelessness in the United States. 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? In recent months, this Court—along with other courts across the country—has concluded that it may not. That answer remains the same here. 

Plaintiffs are twenty-one states (the “States”) that challenge the legality of Executive Order 14238, “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy”  (“Reduction EO”). The Reduction EO had the effect of dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services (“IMLS”), the Minority Business Development Agency (“MBDA”), the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (“FMCS”), and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (“USICH”) by withholding already-appropriated federal funding from these agencies, terminating numerous grants and programs that these agencies administer, and placing many of the agencies’ employees on administrative leave. 

This Court previously issued a preliminary injunction, barring the Trump administration from implementing the Reduction EO. Rhode Island v. Trump, 781 F. Supp. 3d 25, 56 (D.R.I. 2025). The First Circuit denied Defendants’ request for a stay pending appeal of the preliminary injunction, concluding that Defendants had failed to make a strong showing that they were likely to succeed on the merits of their appeal. Rhode Island v. Trump, 155 F.4th 35, 50 (1st Cir. 2025). 

Now pending before the Court is the States’ and Defendants’ cross-motions for summary judgment (ECF Nos. 75, 84). The States argue that the implementation of the Reduction EO violates the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), the Separation of Powers doctrine, and the Take Clare Clause of the United States Constitution. 

Defendants counter on both jurisdictional and merits grounds. Also before the Court are the Defendants’ Motion for Partial Reconsideration of the Court’s earlier order staying the Reduction EO as to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (“USICH”) (ECF No. 86), and the States’ Motion to Enforce the Court’s previously issued preliminary injunction (ECF No. 88).

For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS the States’ Motion for Summary Judgment and DENIES Defendants’ Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment.

I've decided not to reproduce the entire ruling but you can read it in full at https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.rid.59257/gov.uscourts.rid.59257.99.0_2.pdf

Just know that this is a victory for the art of writing and the preservation of these institutions is for the benefit for everyone in the United States of America.

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