A judge has ordered the Trump administration to release funds earmarked by Congress for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), declaring the recent withholding of these finances likely unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, appointed by Donald Trump, indicated in her 15-page memorandum opinion that the administration “blocked” NED’s attempts to obtain its funds, emphasizing that it is Congress, not the executive, that controls financial allocations.

NED is defined as a “private, nonprofit organization formally recognized under the National Endowment for Democracy Act of 1983,” according to the judge. The organization filed a lawsuit against the administration in March for withholding funds, and on Monday, the D.C.-based judge criticized the federal government for seemingly exceeding its boundaries.

“Notably, the defendants do not contest that the Act prevents the executive branch from attaching extra-statutory policy conditions to the Endowment’s funding,” Friedrich notes. “However, evidence strongly indicates that the defendants are withholding funds for unjustifiable policy reasons.”

The judge mentioned the State Department’s “full-year spending plan—the only document in the administrative record not crafted for this litigation—clearly indicat[ing] that the withheld funds are ‘undergoing review to ensure alignment with Administration priorities.'”

Furthermore, the Office of Management and Budget – which creates a schedule for the distribution of funds to relevant agencies after Congress’ appropriation – via its director, “urged the Senate to entirely defund the Endowment because of its alleged support of media organizations critical of the President and his allies.”

“Taken as a whole, that evidence leaves little doubt as to the defendants’ motivations—the Endowment’s work does not align with ‘Administration priorities,'” Friedrich writes.

NED’s stated mission is to promote democracy worldwide. Congress appropriates money annually to the endowment – money that the State Department is tasked with dispensing through an annual grant.

Congress likewise appropriated funding for fiscal 2025. However, as the new administration entered Washington, D.C., in January, the endowment reported difficulties in accessing its money, and it filed the lawsuit against the federal government, seeking a temporary restraining order.

The administration soon after released nearly $100 million of the money NED said it was owed, but in the ensuing months, it again “slow-walk[ed] disbursement,” leaving NED $95 million short of what it had planned to receive.

“The sudden and unprecedented withholding of $95 million—or roughly 30%—from its anticipated budget has forced the Endowment to renege on commitments,” the judge wrote in her opinion. “It was unable to fund 226 approved grants, 124 grants recommended for approval by the Board, and 53 core institute projects.”

“These are activities that the Endowment, in consultation with Congress, has determined are ‘important and time-sensitive’ to furthering ‘critical election monitoring, helping democracy activists overcome authoritarian censorship, [and] maintain[ing] access to independent news and information,'” she added – “in other words, to fulfilling the Endowment’s mission. The defendants have fallen woefully short of providing an ‘annual grant’ that ‘enable[s]’ the Endowment to fulfill its statutory purposes.”

This summer, the endowment filed a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction, and the parties held a hearing on Sunday.

On Monday, that motion was granted.

“The defendants are enjoined from withholding or otherwise interfering with the remaining fiscal year 2025 funds appropriated to the Endowment,” Friedrich wrote, finding that the withholding of funds has forced NED to fire about 35% of its workforce and thus hampered its ability to fulfill its missions.

The judge has ordered the Trump administration to file a status report by Wednesday concerning its efforts to resume the funding allocated to NED.