XPost: alt.government.employees, alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns
WASHINGTON (AP) � A federal judge on Friday denied a request by the
American Library Association to halt the Trump administration�s further dismantling of an agency that funds and promotes libraries across the
country, saying that recent court decisions suggested his court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon had previously agreed to temporarily
block the Republican administration, saying that plaintiffs were likely to
show that Trump doesn�t have the legal authority to unilaterally shutter
the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which was created by
Congress.
But in Friday�s ruling, Leon wrote that as much as the �Court laments the Executive Branch�s efforts to cut off this lifeline for libraries and
museums,� recent court decisions suggested that the case should be heard
in a separate court dedicated to contractual claims.
He cited the Supreme Court�s decision allowing the administration to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in teacher-training money despite a lower
court order barring the cuts, saying that cases seeking reinstatement o
The American Library Association and the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees filed a lawsuit to stop the administration
from gutting the institute after President Donald Trump signed a March 14 executive order that refers to it and several other federal agencies as �unnecessary.�
The agency�s appointed acting director then placed many agency staff
members on administrative leave, sent termination notices to most of them, began canceling grants and contracts and fired all members of the National Museum and Library Services Board.
The institute has roughly 75 employees and issued more than $266 million
in grants last year.
However, a Rhode Island judge�s order prohibiting the government from
shutting down the museum and library services institute in a separate case brought by several states remains in place. The administration is
appealing that order as well.
https://apnews.com/article/institute-of-museum-library-services-trump- fcbf3d3958fe22c68d644d8b19e810f5
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