IMLS: “States Win a Legal Injunction Against President Trump, Pausing Library Funding Cuts”

We will update this post with additional statements and media coverage as they become available.

From NPR:

A federal judge has halted President Trump’s attempt to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services – the agency which provides federal funding to libraries and museums across the country.

On March 14, Trump issued an executive order calling for the elimination “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,” of seven government entities, including the IMLS. In response, attorneys general from 21 states sued the president to stop him from dismantling three of those agencies – the IMLS, the Minority Business Development Agency and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

District court Judge John J. McConnell Jr., who was nominated to the court by President Obama in 2011, issued an injunction on the EO Tuesday, stating that it violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

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From the Associated Press

U.S. District Judge John McConnell, Jr. in Rhode Island said Trump can’t unilaterally end the funding and programs for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. All three agencies were established by Congress.

The agencies carried out the cuts under the direction of an executive order from Trump. In Tuesday’s preliminary injunction, McConnell said the actions were likely arbitrary and capricious because the agencies weren’t able to provide more than “vague” justifications for the sweeping cuts.

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From Courthouse News Service

The administration argued that the executive order and the agency actions taken to comply with it are neither discrete nor final, excluding them from judicial review. This, however, did not satisfy the court.

The coalition narrowly tailored its challenge to focus on the policy that requires the agencies to eliminate “all functions and components not mandated by statute, and of dramatically reducing their remaining functions” across the board. This, plus the countless legal consequences of the actions taken to comply with the order, make the lawsuit ripe for review, according to McConnell Jr.

In the days following the executive order’s publication, the named agencies were forced to reduce staff by 80-90% and cease processing or distributing grants entirely, according to the states.

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Statements

EveryLibrary Statement on the Federal Court’s Preliminary Injunction Protecting IMLS and Independent Cultural Agencies

From the Statement:

EveryLibrary strongly supports this ruling, which underscores the statutory work of these independent federal agencies and stops the Trump administration’s unlawful attempt to dismantle them.

Judge McConnell found that Executive Order 14238 violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the constitutional separation of powers, and the “Take Care Clause” by directing agencies to eliminate functions mandated by Congress without legal justification or authority. The court determined there is a high likelihood that the plaintiffs (the 21 state Attorneys General) will succeed on the merits of their case. The injunction was granted due to the irreparable harm that was already occurring; IMLS had placed nearly all its staff on administrative leave, terminated numerous grants, and disabled core statutory functions such as research and state-level grant administration. Similarly, FMCS and MBDA experienced structural dismantling despite receiving full appropriations from Congress.

More Statements

• California Attorney General
• Hawaii Attorney General
• Oregon Attorney General
• Rhode Island Attorney General
• Wisconsin Attorney General

Documents

• Full Text of Court Opinion and Order

Filed under: Funding, Libraries, News, Public Libraries