The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on Thursday denied a request by defendants in Rhode Island v. Trump to stay a May 13 preliminary injunction that formally ordered a halt to the dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and two more federal agencies ordered by President Donald Trump in March. It is the second time in roughly three months that defendants in the case, including the president and IMLS acting director Keith Sonderling, were denied a stay pending appeal.
The case was before chief circuit court judge David J. Barron, judge William J. Kayatta, Jr., and judge Julie Rikelman. “The District Court found,” they wrote in their order denying the stay, “that the termination of the employees and other actions of the agency defendants that the preliminary injunction covers directly caused and continue to cause the loss of services of which the plaintiffs complain. The appellants do not make any developed argument that this finding was clearly erroneous."
The judges added: “While the appellants have established the possibility of some limited irreparable harm to themselves from the District Court’s preliminary injunction, they have failed to (1) make a strong showing that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their appeal, (2) show that other parties interested in this litigation would not be substantially injured were we to issue the requested stay, or (3) show that the issuance of a stay is in the public interest.”
The disputed May 13 court order instructed the defendants to cease all efforts to eliminate IMLS, the Minority Business and Development Agency, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Per the judge, compliance with the order also involved restoring employees and contractors who were “involuntarily placed on leave or involuntarily terminated” and resuming “the processing, disbursement, and payment of already-awarded funding,” including grants that were in limbo or canceled.
