Judge Mary S. McKelloy, who blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to freeze the EPA, the energy sector and other grants twice, has a history of democratic activity.
Tuesday, US District Judge Mary McElroy issued The injunction against the Trump administration ruled in favor of environmental groups that claimed the president had illegally frozen grants for projects that claimed to “reduce climate change, pollution and modernize American infrastructure.”
“The agency has no unlimited authority to promote the president’s agenda, and does not have the free power to permanently hamstring two statutes passed by Congress during the previous administration,” McElroy ruled.
The Trump administration said the administration was entitled to suspend funding for grants awarded to redirect funds to better projects, and the Rhode Island judge lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
The Justice Department also claimed it had a stronger position after the Trump administration ruled that it could cancel millions of dollars in teacher training grants as part of a crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
But this is not the first time Judge McElroy has disappointed the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze grants across the government.
McElroy in early April Approved A request from Democratic state officials in Rhode Island said that “it will temporarily prevent President Donald Trump’s administration from cutting state health subsidies.”
“The harm to the plaintiffs’ state and plaintiff agencies is clearly irreparable if they stop doing so,” he said after discussions from lawyers representing the state government and the Trump Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) division. HHS has revoked more than $11 billion in grants to the state.
It was on McElroy A wide range The history of democratic activities, including:
- As a high school student, she handed out flyers for the Julius V. Michelson Senate campaign in 1982
- In 1984, she acted as a page for the Rhode Island delegation to the Democratic National Convention
- She volunteered for James E. O’Neill’s campaign for the Attorney General of Rhode Island.
- She was a member of the Rhode Island Democrats from 1984 to 1986.
“I participated in efforts to encourage young people to register for the vote, engage in the political process and support Democratic candidates’ election efforts,” she wrote in a Senate survey.
President Barack Obama was first Nominations McKelloy fills a seat in the US District Court for the Rhode Island area in 2015. Her name Expired 2017 and President Trump Nominations She posted in April 2018.
The lawmaker has moved curb The influence of a ‘judicial rebel’ or district court judge who takes away the role of the administrative agency and blocks the will of the American people who elected him. [President Trump]. ”
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), WHO vote In response to the confirmation of McElroy at the Judicial Committee in 2019, It was introduced In March, the Judicial Insurgency Act of 2025 will “establish a three-judicial panel of judges to expeditiously review injunctive or declarative relief” against the president and administrative bodies.
Lee said in a statement at the time:
If our commander’s legal orders can be overwritten on the whims of a single district court judge, the US government cannot function. They are estimated to operate the HR departments of the military, civil servants, foreign aid, and the entire administrative sector.
He explained that “the law will create a Judicial Committee to facilitate the Supreme Court review of these comprehensive injunctions and prevent unelected extremists from hampering the separation of power.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him with x @seanmoran3.
