From Fox News: A federal district court wrongfully blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from temporarily withholding billions of dollars in climate grants, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The District Court for Washington, D.C. granted an injunction blocking the Trump administration from withholding $16 billion in climate grants. Tuesday’s ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court finds that the lower court overstepped its authority in doing so, and that Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was acting in accordance with its role to provide “proper oversight” of how funds are distributed.
“We conclude the district court abused its discretion in issuing the injunction. The grantees are not likely to succeed on the merits because their claims are essentially contractual, and therefore jurisdiction lies exclusively in the Court of Federal Claims,” Judge Neomi Rao wrote in the court’s opinion.
“And while the district court had jurisdiction over the grantees’ constitutional claim, that claim is meritless. Moreover, the equities strongly favor the government, which on behalf of the public must ensure the proper oversight and management of this multi-billion-dollar fund,” the opinion continued.
The Biden administration had awarded a whopping $16 billion in grants to five liberal nonprofits for the purpose of promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the report explains. Just one month before Trump took office, Biden’s EPA then reportedly modified the grant agreements “to make it more difficult for the government to terminate the grants.”
The five nonprofits, Climate United Fund, Coalition for Green Capital, Power Forward Communities, Inc., Inclusiv, Inc., and Justice Climate Fund, Inc, filed a lawsuit after the Trump administration moved to terminate the grants, and the district court had initially ruled in favor of the nonprofits.
Now, DC Circuit Court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration, with Judge Neomi Rao writing the majority opinion. Rao, 52, was born in Detroit to parents who immigration to the U.S. from India. She was nominated by President Donald Trump in November 2018 to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit created after Judge Brett Kavanaugh was elevated to serve as a Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Huge win for President Trump. He need not spend$16 billion on leftwing environmental nonprofits. DC Circuit 2-1 says that the right place to challenge these lawsuits is the Court of Federal Claims. Judge Rao for the majority, Judge Pillard dissenting pic.twitter.com/k0NXoM8EHY
— Eric W. (@EWess92) September 2, 2025
EPA leader Lee Zeldin celebrated the legal victory, writing, “MASSIVE DC Circuit Court win for the Trump EPA & taxpayers! After the Biden EPA set up the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund through self-dealing & conflicts of interest, unqualified recipients & reduced agency oversight, I terminated these grants completely!”
🚨MASSIVE DC Circuit Court win for the Trump EPA & taxpayers!
After the Biden EPA set up the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund through self-dealing & conflicts of interest, unqualified recipients & reduced agency oversight, I terminated these grants completely! pic.twitter.com/mTjdOYgVar
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) September 2, 2025
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— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 2, 2025
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