The federal judge who suggested Trump administration officials could face criminal contempt over the spending freeze on Monday is a Democrat donor.
John J. McConnell, Jr., chief judge of the U.S. district court in Rhode Island, ordered the Trump administration to “immediately restore frozen funding” after determining officials violated his prior restraining order and suggesting further opposition could result in criminal charges.
McConnell cited a 1975 case that states, “Persons who make private determinations of the law and refuse to obey an order generally risk criminal contempt even if the order is ultimately ruled incorrect.”
While he was in private practice as an attorney until 2009, McConnell donated hundreds of thousands to Democratic campaigns and political action committees, including the 2008 presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama, according to Federal Election Commission records. He also donated over $8,000 to Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s 2006 senate campaign.
McConnell volunteered as director of the Rhode Island branch of Planned Parenthood for four years, according to Roll Call.
“The plain language of the TRO entered in this case prohibits all categorical pauses or freezes in obligations or disbursements based on the OMB Directive or based on the President’s 2025 Executive Orders,” McConnell wrote in his order Monday. “The Defendants received notice of the TRO, the Order is clear and unambiguous, and there are no impediments to the Defendants’ compliance with the Order.”
Nearly two dozen Democratic state attorneys general sued on Jan. 28 over an Office of Management and Budget memo directing agencies to pause payments for activities that might be implicated by recent executive orders, including orders on gender ideology and DEI. While the memo was rescinded, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on Jan. 29 that the funding freeze had not been ended.
McConnell issued an order on Jan. 31 blocking the Trump administration from freezing federal funds, writing that “the federal grants to States and others that are impounded through the Executive’s pause in disbursement will cause irreparable harm.”
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