US EditionJudge temporarily blocks Trump administration from dismantling library services agency
- On May 1, 2025, District Judge Richard Leon issued a temporary order preventing the Trump administration from continuing efforts to dismantle the federal agency that supports museums and libraries across the United States.
- The measure followed an executive order issued on March 14, 2025, aimed at downsizing the agency as part of a wider federal government reduction, which led to legal challenges from a major library advocacy group and a union representing federal employees.
- Acting director Keith Sonderling had placed about 75 agency employees on leave, sent termination notices, fired the board members, and started canceling grants valued at over $266 million that support libraries nationwide.
- Judge Leon described the harms from dismantling the agency as "neither speculative nor remediable" and issued a narrow restraining order barring further staff firings, contract cancellations, and agency dissolution while the lawsuit proceeds.
- The order preserves funding crucial to many libraries, especially in rural and tribal areas, which face closures due to grant cuts making the lawsuit's outcome critical for ongoing public library services.
50 Articles
50 Articles
Judge Halts Trump’s Cuts to Museum and Library Funding Agency
As Trump threatens to eliminate government-funded arts and culture agencies in a newly released budget proposal, a federal judge has temporarily halted the administration’s efforts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on Thursday, May 1, after a series of cuts to IMLS grants and staff intended to dismantle the agency. The ruling responds to a lawsuit filed last month by the American Library Association (ALA) and the u…
Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration from Dismantling Library Services Agency
The Trump administration can't take any more steps to dismantle an agency that funds and promotes libraries across the US after a a federal judge agreed to a temporarily block.
Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration From Dismantling Library Services Agency
A federal judge has tentatively prohibited the Trump administration from ending an agency supporting libraries across the United States. Richard Leon, a senior judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled on May 1 that the administration could not terminate funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). “Plaintiffs have established that the grant terminations, loss of access to IMLS expertise and service…
Leaving intact a "recidivist monopoly" would prevent the problem of its market position from being resolved, he argued.
“These numbers should terrify lawmakers:” Library borrowing boom threatens GOP funding cuts
Record-breaking 41,000 new library cardholders in Cuyahoga County become potential political force against state Republicans' attempts to slash guaranteed library funding
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