Overview
- A federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, Leonie Brinkema, issued a temporary injunction Friday that bars creation of the fund, any transfer of money into it, consideration of claims, and disbursements while the legal challenge proceeds.
- The program was part of a settlement that ended President Trump’s $10 billion suit against the IRS and would place roughly $1.776 billion from the DOJ Judgment Fund into an account managed by five commissioners appointed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
- A coalition of plaintiffs including Democracy Forward, Common Cause, an ex-federal prosecutor and municipal actors sued to block the fund, saying it is unlawful, unconstitutional and opaque because it uses the Judgment Fund without ordinary congressional appropriation or public oversight.
- The proposal has drawn unusually strong bipartisan pushback, with some Republican senators urging the White House to abandon the plan and lawmakers already delaying unrelated votes over concerns the fund could be used to reward political allies.
- The court set a June 12 hearing to consider a longer injunction and the dispute now runs alongside separate litigation requiring President Trump to respond to fraud allegations in the underlying IRS case, leaving the fund’s fate uncertain and likely to prompt further congressional scrutiny.