A federal judge extended a court-ordered block Friday on the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” rejecting government arguments that legal challenges to the fund are now moot.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, nominated by President Bill Clinton, ruled the fund will remain frozen until the court says otherwise.
“The mootness argument, in my view, doesn’t go anywhere,” Brinkema said in court, as per reports.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress earlier this month that the administration is dropping plans for the fund, citing fierce bipartisan backlash. But Brinkema said verbal assurances were not enough.
President Trump has not publicly endorsed the cancellation. He has continued expressing support for the fund in remarks to reporters, even as Blanche signaled a retreat.
Brinkema gave both parties one week to negotiate terms for Blanche to submit a sworn declaration that the administration will not revive the fund.
The fund was established by Trump to compensate people claiming to be victims of a weaponized federal government. It was tied to Trump’s own lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.
Opponents argued the administration could not legally redirect taxpayer dollars into what they called a slush fund for Trump’s allies. Plaintiffs in the Virginia case include a fired federal prosecutor and a college professor acquitted of assaulting federal agents during a protest.
As of Friday, no money had been paid out and no claims accepted. The Justice Department never assembled the five-member commission that would have set eligibility criteria.
The fund drew opposition from within Trump’s own party. Many Republican allies objected to the possibility that January 6 defendants could collect compensation from it. In May, Blanche declined to rule out that Capitol rioters who engaged in conduct that day could be eligible to apply.
Trump had issued mass pardons for more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
A parallel case in Washington, D.C., came out differently Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon accepted Blanche’s representation that the fund was defunct and declined to issue a block in that proceeding.
Brinkema pressed the Justice Department on a central question: why hadn’t Blanche formally rescinded the May 18 order that created the fund? The DOJ attorney said he didn’t know.
“It’s a huge gap in the record that we don’t have an answer to that question,” the judge said.
Legal advocacy group Democracy Forward brought the Virginia case, asking for an order suspending the fund and barring any payouts from it.
