Judge Mary McElroy blocked Trump’s grant freezes again, citing limits on executive power as her history of Democratic party activism comes to light.
Judge Mary S. McElroy, who has twice blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to freeze EPA, Energy Department, and other grants, has a history of Democrat activism. [emphasis, links added]
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy issued an injunction against the Trump administration, ruling in favor of environmental groups who claim the president unlawfully froze grants for projects that combat alleged “climate change, reduce pollution, and modernize American infrastructure.”
“Agencies do not have unlimited authority to further a President’s agenda, nor do they have unfettered power to hamstring in perpetuity two statutes passed by Congress during the previous administration,” McElroy ruled.
The Trump administration has said that the administration has the right to pause funding for awarded grants to redirect the funds to more suitable projects, and that the Rhode Island judge lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
The Justice Department had also claimed that it had a stronger position after the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could cancel millions of dollars in teacher training grants as part of its crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
However, this is not the first time that Judge McElroy has frustrated the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze grants government-wide.
In early April, McElroy approved a request from Democrat state officials in Rhode Island to “temporarily prevent President Donald Trump’s administration from cutting state health grants.”
“The harm to the plaintiff states and the plaintiff agencies if we cease that … is clearly irreparable,” McElroy said after arguments from attorneys representing state governments and the Trump Health and Human Services (HHS) Department.
The HHS had revoked over $11 billion in grants to states.
McElroy has had an extensive history of Democrat activism, which includes:
- As a high school student, she handed out flyers for Julius V. Michaelson’s Senate campaign in 1982
- In 1984, in college, she acted as a page for the Rhode Island delegation to the Democratic National Convention
- She served as a volunteer for James E. O’Neil’s campaign for Rhode Island Attorney General
- She was a member of the Rhode Island Democrats from 1984 to 1986
“I participated in efforts to encourage young people to register to vote and to become involved in the political process and support the electoral efforts of Democratic candidates,” she wrote in her Senate questionnaire.
President Barack Obama first nominated McElroy to fill a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island in 2015.
Her nomination expired in 2017, and President Trump nominated her to the post in April 2018.
Read rest at Breitbart
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