U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to sign the Laken Riley Act into law in the East Room of the White House in Washington on January 29, 2025 (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Sipa USA/Sipa via AP Images).

On Thursday, a federal judge indicated her intention to prevent the Trump administration from cutting billions in essential public health funding that was initially distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently upheld by Congress. She noted that the case presented a substantial amount of evidence of “irreparable harm.”

“The plaintiffs have made a compelling argument for their likelihood of success in this case, so I will grant the temporary restraining order,” declared U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy, as reported by PBS News. “The probability of winning on the merits is very high,” McElroy stated, according to The Hill. “There is an extensive record filled with claims of irreparable harm.”

The Trump administration is being sued by attorneys general from nearly half the U.S., with 23 states teaming up to file a lawsuit this week over the president’s cancellation of $11 billion in federal funds doled out during the pandemic. Trump chose to do away with the federal funding late last month, with it being officially scrubbed away on March 24.

If the grants are not restored, the attorneys general say “key public health programs” and initiatives that address “ongoing and emerging public health needs” in the various states that are suing will have to be dissolved or disbanded in the coming weeks and months — with large numbers of state and local public health employees and contractors being shown the door.