Judge Orders Trump Admin To Release $95 Million To National Endowment For Democracy

Source: Tampa Free Press

August 12, 2025 1:53 pm


A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction against the government, ordering it to immediately release approximately $95 million in congressionally appropriated funds to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The court’s decision concludes that the federal government and its executive agencies unlawfully withheld the funds for impermissible policy reasons.

The ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, sided with the NED, a private, nonprofit organization that promotes democratic institutions globally. The Endowment had sued the federal government after experiencing significant delays and disruptions in receiving its congressionally mandated funding for fiscal year 2025.

According to court documents, Congress appropriated $315 million for the NED for fiscal year 2024, with the same level of funding continuing through various resolutions for 2025. Despite this, the Endowment faced a series of obstacles in accessing its money starting in January 2025. It did not receive routine drawdown requests, and the State Department delayed the obligation of a substantial portion of the funds. This financial strain forced the NED to furlough a large number of staff and default on obligations to its grantees, many of whom operate in high-risk environments under authoritarian regimes.

The administration’s rationale for withholding the funds was that the money was being “subject to review for alignment with Administration priorities.” The court found this justification to be in direct violation of the National Endowment for Democracy Act of 1983 (NED Act), which prohibits the executive branch from imposing extra-statutory policy-based conditions on the Endowment’s funding. The court noted that policy oversight for the NED is the prerogative of Congress, not the executive branch.

Read more: https://www.tampafp.com/judge-orders-trump-admin-to-release-95-million-to-national-endowment-for-democracy/