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While in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday, May 5, 2025, President Donald Trump pays attention as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes a speech during the signing of executive orders and proclamations. Meanwhile, Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health, is observing on the left. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A federal judge ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration should halt its plans to significantly reduce federal funding for public health departments.
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island granted the preliminary injunction request in the lawsuit brought last by a coalition of Democrat-led states. She had granted a temporary restraining order last month in the case.
The lawsuit filed April 1 by 23 states and the District of Columbia sought to immediately halt $11 billion in cuts, alleging that it would decimate public health infrastructure across the country. The money, allocated by Congress during the pandemic, supported COVID-19 initiatives and mental health and substance abuse efforts.
The injunction only applies to the states involved in the lawsuit. The federal government must file documentation that they’re complying with the order by Tuesday evening.
Health departments across the country have said they’ve laid off employees after the Trump administration began to clawback the money in late March.
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