A federal judge in Boston on 5 Aug. issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Trump administration from redirecting roughly $4 billion earmarked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. The court sided with 20 Democrat-led states that argued FEMA lacked authority to terminate the disaster-mitigation grants Congress had already appropriated. The ruling landed the same day the Government Accountability Office released a report concluding the administration violated the Impoundment Control Act by halting almost $8 billion in National Institutes of Health funding. GAO investigators found more than 1,800 active NIH grants were cancelled and new awards delayed after executive orders targeting equity- and gender-related research, an action the watchdog said amounted to an unlawful impoundment of funds. Tuesday’s court order and Wednesday’s GAO findings add to a widening pattern of legal challenges over the administration’s handling of congressionally approved money. In California, a separate judge has demanded an explanation from the National Science Foundation for freezing about 300 grants at UCLA; the university says $584 million in federal awards are now on hold after it was reprimanded for pro-Palestinian protests. Harvard and other institutions report similar suspensions, affecting studies such as a newly published lithium-based approach to Alzheimer’s disease. GAO has now issued five determinations that the White House illegally impounded funds. Further litigation is expected as agencies face court scrutiny and potential orders to release the disputed money.