The Trump administration must release funds allocated by Congress to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a federal judge ruled, finding that its recent withholding of the financing appears to be illegal.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote in her 15-page memorandum opinion that the administration has “obstructed” efforts by NED to secure its financing, despite the fact that it is the legislative – not executive branch – that holds the authority in how the funding is doled out.

NED is a “private, nonprofit organization formally recognized under the National Endowment for Democracy Act of 1983,” as the judge puts it. The organization sued the administration for withholding the funding in March, and on Monday, the Washington, D.C.-based judge rebuked the federal government for its apparent effort to overstep its powers.

“Tellingly, the defendants do not dispute that the Act prohibits the executive branch from imposing extra-statutory policy based conditions on the Endowment”s funding,” Friedrich writes. “Yet record evidence clearly shows that the defendants are withholding funding for impermissible policy reasons.”

The judge then pointed to the State Department’s “full-year spending plan—the sole document in the administrative record not created for purposes of this litigation—explicitly stat[ing] that the withheld funds are being ‘subject to review for alignment with Administration priorities.'”

Furthermore, the Office of Management and Budget – which creates a schedule for the distribution of funds to relevant agencies after Congress’ appropriation – via its director, “urged the Senate to entirely defund the Endowment because of its alleged support of media organizations critical of the President and his allies.”

“Taken as a whole, that evidence leaves little doubt as to the defendants’ motivations—the Endowment’s work does not align with ‘Administration priorities,'” Friedrich writes.

NED’s stated mission is to promote democracy worldwide. Congress appropriates money annually to the endowment – money that the State Department is tasked with dispensing through an annual grant.

Congress likewise appropriated funding for fiscal 2025. However, as the new administration entered Washington, D.C., in January, the endowment reported difficulties in accessing its money, and it filed the lawsuit against the federal government, seeking a temporary restraining order.

The administration soon after released nearly $100 million of the money NED said it was owed, but in the ensuing months, it again “slow-walk[ed] disbursement,” leaving NED $95 million short of what it had planned to receive.

“The sudden and unprecedented withholding of $95 million—or roughly 30%—from its anticipated budget has forced the Endowment to renege on commitments,” the judge wrote in her opinion. “It was unable to fund 226 approved grants, 124 grants recommended for approval by the Board, and 53 core institute projects.”

“These are activities that the Endowment, in consultation with Congress, has determined are ‘important and time-sensitive’ to furthering ‘critical election monitoring, helping democracy activists overcome authoritarian censorship, [and] maintain[ing] access to independent news and information,'” she added – “in other words, to fulfilling the Endowment’s mission. The defendants have fallen woefully short of providing an ‘annual grant’ that ‘enable[s]’ the Endowment to fulfill its statutory purposes.”

This summer, the endowment filed a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction, and the parties held a hearing on Sunday.

On Monday, that motion was granted.

“The defendants are enjoined from withholding or otherwise interfering with the remaining fiscal year 2025 funds appropriated to the Endowment,” Friedrich wrote, finding that the withholding of funds has forced NED to fire about 35% of its workforce and thus hampered its ability to fulfill its missions.

The judge has ordered the Trump administration to file a status report by Wednesday concerning its efforts to resume the funding allocated to NED.