Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Fed Judge ISSUES SCATHING ORDER against Trump

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

A DC Federal Judge, finding that the Trump Administration has “attempted to manipulate the judicial process through false pretenses” has entered a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent Trump from cutting off grants and other funding to all non-for-profits, including those focused on children's health, poverty, and those he declares to be “woke,” in violation of the Constitution’s “appropriations” clause, the Administrative Procedures Act and the First Amendment. Michael Popok ties it together with the earlier injunction in Rhode Island and explains what happens next. For their buy 1 get 1 50% off deal, head to https://3DayBlinds.com/LEGALAF Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Reese's. Peanut Butter Cups. Reese's. Reese's. Peanut butter cups. That breathy one sounded very creepy, am I right? The housing crisis in the GTA has reached a critical point, with more than two in three residents being affected. ... reporting that almost nine million Canadians are living in food insecure households. Over one million people in the GTA now live below the poverty line. Just out today. Mental health support is the number one reason people are calling 211 for a...

At United Way, we wake up to a different alarm every day. Help us end poverty and build a better GTA, any way we can. Donate today at unitedwaygt.org. TD Direct Investing offers live support. So whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for total fund savings adventure, maybe reach out to T.D. Direct Investing. A federal judge in the District of Columbia has just ruled against Donald Trump's administration, issuing a temporary

restraining order to stop him from freezing funds to the states and other not-for-profit groups, especially ones that he finds offensive because of their quote-unquote woke ideology. And in doing so, Judge Ali Khan has also made a finding that the Trump administration is manipulating the judicial process through the false pretense of single-handedly trying to end the litigation by removing the freeze after she found that they did nothing of the sort, citing the press secretary's posting on social media that indicated that the freeze was still ongoing. This is now another temporary restraining order against the Trump administration. If you're playing at home, it's TRO number three, and I'm going to break it down for you now that we've got judge Ali Khan's decision in our hands here on

the Midas Touch Network and Legal AF. Let's dive right in. I'm so excited. My camera's moving. Here we go. You may recall, and if not, let me tell you straight that there were two separate filings that were made by two separate groups, one in Rhode Island and the other one in the District of Columbia that went almost simultaneously against the Office of Management and Budget

and the Trump administration. The one in Rhode Island brought by 22 states and their attorneys general before Judge McConnell. I reported on that, that he issued his temporary restraining order, also citing that he did not believe the press secretary or her announcement that the freeze had been unfrozen because funds were still not flowing to these organizations or entities pursuant to it,

and she had told others in social media in the world that this freeze was still on. That was in Rhode Island with Judge McConnell. Then we had in Judge Ali Khan's courtroom in the federal District of Columbia court, she issued an administrative stay last week. She held oral argument and briefing on the third, and now she's issued her 30 page decision in which she has found that the plaintiffs here, which are not for profit organizations that rely on funding to states

and funding from the federal government in order to exist. So the National Council of Not For Profits and a series of not-for-profits, including ones dedicated to health care for children, homelessness, food, medicine, and other things that rely as their lifeblood. I mean, they can't make their budget, they can't make their payroll without federal funding that has now been cut off by Donald Trump. And in terms of the hearing, the Ali Khan, Judge Ali Khan found that they're not even

consistent at the federal government level. Surprise, surprise, because they cut off funding to everything, not just to the eight or nine executive orders that Donald Trump entered in order to go after woke ideology. And in terms of going after woke ideology, Judge Ali Khan found it was more likely than not the likelihood of success on the merits at trial that these particular plaintiffs, these not-for-profit plaintiffs, are going to be able to prove two things. One, that the decision by the Office of Management and Budget under Donald Trump to freeze this funding effectively to all not-for-profits in the country was arbitrary and capricious, not done properly under the

Administrative Procedures Act. But she also said it violated an entire bulwark of constitutional protections because it is Congress, not the president, that has the power of the purse. It is Congress, not the president, that has the power of the purse. It is Congress, not the president, that has the sole ability on appropriations. And Donald Trump trying to step in and freeze or impound, it's called impoundment, impound funding already allocated by Congress is unconstitutional. When Congress says we are going to allocate funding and it's going to go to this not-for-profit and that not-for-profit and this state and that state.

You can't just arbitrarily say, well, the president decided even though you've allocated it and you've got the power of the per string, Congress, I as the executive branch are not going to execute on it and we're going to block it. That is unconstitutional. That is a violation of the APA. So just as Judge McConnell in Rhode Island a couple of days ago, issued his temporary restraining order. Judge Olly Kahn has issued her temporary restraining order

against the Trump administration. We now have three of them. One related to birthright citizenship, Donald Trump's executive order that a federal agency should look mothers and children in the eye and deny them US citizenship, even if the baby was born on US soil in violation of the 14th Amendment, that's been temporarily restrained by a Cal,

sorry, by a Seattle, Washington federal judge, Judge Coffinore. We have Judge McConnell, Rhode Island, on behalf of the 22 states on the federal funding freeze, TRO, and now we've got Judge Ali Khan, all simultaneously, three for three for these attorneys general and not-for-profits. I've said it before to give you some context. 1000 lawsuits or more were filed against the first Trump administration, and the attorneys general then were batting about 80%

in success ratio. Right now, these groups are batting 100%. Every court that they choose, every judge that they obtain, writes detailed orders against the Trump administration who's out of control. How do you control out of control? You run into federal court,

you get temporary restraining orders. That's the first step. Temporary restraining order is temporary, subject to a preliminary injunction. That'll be coming down the road probably in the next two or three weeks. I'm gonna tell you straight, as a lawyer who practices like this,

if you get a temporary restraining order, you almost always get the preliminary injunction. Now let me read to you from the actual order. First, let me tell you what Judge Ali Khan, I'll tell you more about her background in a minute. Judge Ali Khan, her actual order, then I'll tell you the findings that the Trump administration has lied to her, and therefore she is ruling against them in this case. It is, this is on page 29, ordered that defendants are enjoined from implementing, giving effect to, or reinstating under a different name, the directives in OMB, Office of Management and Budget, Memorandum

M2513, with respect to the disbursement of federal funds under all open awards. Funding by Congress needs to go to these entities. Ordered that defendants must provide written notice of the court's temporary restraining order to all agencies. The written notice shall instruct those agencies that they may not take steps to implement, give effect to, or reinstate under a different name the directions of OMB M-2513 with respect to the disbursement of federal funds under all open awards. It also instructs those agencies to release any disbursements on open awards

that are paused due to that memo. It is further ordered, page 30, that this order shall apply to the maximum extent provided by law. Ordered that the defendant shall file a status report. That's the government. Trump, honor before Feb. 7, apprising the court of the status of its compliance. The party shall meet and confer concerning a joint status report on Feb seven. We will get our hands on this joint status report about the compliance with this particular order. I may be very open with you on this podcast,

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judge has called out and said point-blank she does not trust at all the Trump administration in these proceedings who tried to divest both the Rhode Island Court and this DC court of its jurisdiction by saying, oh, we said freeze everything? Oh, well, it's rescinded. Hoping that they'd have the argument that it's both moot, meaning we don't need any judicial intervention because we've taken it back ourselves and you've lost jurisdiction because we rescinded the act

that's at the heart of the matter. And the judge said, no, this craven attempt to manipulate the jurisdiction by saying green light, red light, and leaving the plaintiffs in the lurch, who have to make payroll, people have to get paychecks, people who fund these programs have to actually pay vendors, doesn't work for her.

Let me read to you from the actual page here, where she attacks the Trump administration through the press secretary, Carolyn LeVette. On page 15, thank you, on page 15, she says that within hours of the OMB's rescission, where the OMB with a one-liner said, we are rescinding, White House Press Secretary, LaVette, that's Carolyn LaVette, she's the world's youngest press secretary, announced that

the rescission was to have no tangible effect on the federal funding freeze. She did that on X. Moreover, she explained that the primary purpose of the rescission was to end any confusion created by the court's injunction. That statement, unambiguously, the judge continues, reflects that the rescission was in direct response to this court's issuance of an administrative stay on January 28th. For defendants to innocently claim

that the OMB's post-stay actions are merely a noble attempt to end confusion strains credulity. Here's what she said point-blank, Judge Ali Khan on page 14. The voluntary cessation doctrine is especially important in cases where the defendant is suspected, that's the Trump administration, of quote manipulating the judicial process through the false pretense of single-handedly ending a dispute. And that's what she's found that the Trump administration has

done. They have false the false pretense of ending the funding freeze in order to avoid a court case. And she's not going to allow that. She also cites through the Rhode Island case and says she knows that that's been temporarily restrained. She agrees with that. Let me just read to you also from some of the, um, some of the funding that gets denied here, just so, just so you know what's at stake on page seven, judge Ali Khan says, uh, plaintiffs, the ledge, they, she finds injury to give them standing to bring this case on page seven.

She says plaintiffs alleged that even a temporary pause in funding to their members, such as the American Public Health Association and Main Street Alliance, would destroy their ability to provide medical and low-income childcare services.'" So when your next time you're voting for MAGA and Donald Trump,

he's against medical and low-income childcare services because he cut off the funding to it if it wasn't for Judge Ali Khan and Judge O'Connell. Particularly plaintiffs had numerous declarations on page eight showing that many organizations need weekly injections of federal funding in order to continue operating. One health center pays its employees bi-weekly on Thursdays over to page nine, requiring it to draw down grant funds on the preceding Tuesday. Some of these employees live paycheck to paycheck,

meaning that a single missed payment could prevent them from buying groceries or paying rent. Separately, a member of a tribal organization was forced to lay off two employees because they could not access grant funds. Another not-for-profit dedicated to ending homelessness was forced to suspend a birth certificate and identification program just so that it could keep its employees on payroll. See, this is what not-for-profits do.

Not-for-profits don't make a profit. Their funding comes primarily from grants from the federal government and state government. You cut off the grants, you cut off the funding, these people can't operate, and therefore you shut down all of these things, many of them because Donald Trump is going after their quote unquote woke ideology, which is a First Amendment violation.

So you have three main violations in all these cases that I want you to keep an eye on closely, that we are. Constitutional violation for violation of the appropriations provision of the Constitution because the power of the purse strings resides solely and exclusively with Congress, not with the executive branch, the president. Two, the Administrative Procedures Act has been violated because these federal agencies have to operate consistent with the Administrative Procedures Act. If they

pass out of the blue a new administrative procedures, new laws that are arbitrary and capricious, you got a violation of the APA. And third, First Amendment. Because if you're going after them, and that's what the President's memorandum said, if you're going after them for First Amendment violation because of their woke ideology,

we're on to the First Amendment. First Amendment Appropriations Act and violation, constitutional, and violation of the APA, we're gonna see that over and over and over again in every case that's gonna be filed against the Trump administration for all of these executive orders. When will they learn?

We're already up to almost, almost a lawsuit a day, a lawsuit a day, three temporary restraining orders already. We are only, as of today, two weeks into this administration. You do the math. I'm going to continue to follow it all right here on Legal AF and on the Midas Touch Network. Thank you for joining us here. We sit at the intersection of law and politics. I bring you this commentary and analysis,

hopefully like no other on YouTube, exclusively here on the Midas Touch Network and over on our companion channel, if you will, Legal AF MTN for Midas Touch Network, help us continue to grow that pro-democracy channel. Follow me, Michael Popak, a number of ways, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time, here on this YouTube channel.

We've got Legal AF the podcast, then on audio podcast platform. Then I've got Popak Live, a new podcast on Tuesday nights, 8 p.m. Eastern time here on the Midas Touch Network. And then you've got us all over. We do almost eight to 10 videos a day at the intersection of law and politics just to keep up over on Legal AF, the YouTube channel. So until my next reporting on Legal AF matters, I'm Michael Popak.

In collaboration with the Midas Touch Network, we just launched the Legal AF YouTube channel. Help us build this pro-democracy channel where I'll be curating the top stories, the intersection of law and politics. Go to YouTube now and free subscribe at Legal AF MTN. That's at Legal AF MTN. Get ready for Las Vegas style action at BedMGM, the king of online casinos.

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