On Friday, a federal judge consented to prevent the Trump administration from abolishing an autonomous body responsible for providing grants to community development organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean regions.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan determined that the administration lacks the power to dismiss the leader of the Inter-American Foundation, an organization overseen by a nine-person bipartisan board.
Over five decades ago, Congress established the organization. Since then, it has allocated $945 million to numerous grant recipients across approximately three dozen nations.
AliKhan, appointed by President Joe Biden, discovered that Congress had granted the foundation’s board the sole power to remove its director.
"Since neither President Trump nor Mr. Marocco possessed the authority to dismiss her from her role as the head of the IAF, Ms. Aviel has a strong chance of prevailing with respect to the substantive issues in her case," Ali Khan stated in the temporary restraining order.
The White House has not yet responded to an inquiry for comment.
On February 19, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at significantly downsizing the federal government. The Interior Arts Foundation (IAF) was among the agencies identified for budget reductions. Officials from the Department of Government Efficiency, which is advised by billionaire Elon Musk, visited the foundation’s headquarters on February 20.
A few days afterward, the White House dismissed all members of the organization's board, ousted Sara Aviel from her positions as both president and CEO of the IAF, and named Pete Marocco as the interim head of the board. Subsequently, Marocco designated himself as Aviel’s provisional successor.
AliKhan's directive issued on Friday determined that Marocco's moves to end almost all of IAF's grants and proceed with terminating most staff members held no legal impact.
"To claim that the IAF continues to operate with just one staff member, one grant, and barely anything else is hilariously hard to accept," Ali Khan stated.
She likewise barred the White House from restoring Marocco’s status as an "acting" IAF board member unless he received confirmation from the Senate.
More than 400 organizations saw nine or more have their IAF grants revoked. also sued To maintain the groundwork. These plaintiffs consist of organizations that combat violence against women, provide schooling for girls in Peru, offer loans to women living in rural areas of Mexico, and educate small-scale farmers about sustainable farming methods.
"Many have already been forced to let go of employees, and several others are contemplating complete closure," according to their lawyers.
AliKhan requested that the grantees inform the court on Monday if they wished to continue with their case.
The government lawyers asserted that Trump legally replaced the board members with Marocco, granting Marocco the power to dismiss Aviel. They contended that enforcing Aviel’s return through judicial order could impede Trump’s objectives aimed at downsizing the governmental structure.
Furthermore, the public interest could be compromised if the President lacked a foundation board and leaders chosen by said board, who hold the President's trust and thus can efficiently support him in fulfilling his responsibilities as the head of executive branch. a Justice Department attorney wrote .
AliKhan stated that the government ignored instructions from Congress when allocating money to the Indian Air Force (IAF), asserting that the agency couldn’t be reduced in size without first seeking approval from Congressional committees.
She mentioned that although striving for governmental efficiency is a legitimate objective, it needs to be accomplished within legal bounds.
The administration likewise dismissed the leader of the United States African Development Foundation, which is affiliated with the IAF. Ward Brehm filed a lawsuit aiming to retain his position as the president of the USADF. On March 11, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon refused to prolong an injunction halting Brehm’s dismissal until he could rule on the core issues of the case.
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Lindsay Whitehurst and Thalia Beaty from the Associated Press contributed.
READ MORE: Judge halts Trump's attempt to dissolve IAF
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