A federal judge refused Tuesday to order the Trump administration to restart money flowing to Catholic organizations that help settle refugees in the U.S.
Judge Timothy McFadden, a Trump appointee to the district court in Washington, said the dispute is a contract matter that must instead be taken up by the Court of Federal Claims.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops runs the country’s largest refugee resettlement service and was expecting tens of millions of dollars this year in government money, including reimbursement for services already delivered.
That’s been blocked by President Trump’s 90-day pause on foreign assistance spending.
While the case sprung from Mr. Trump’s spending pause, the State Department has since sent notice that it is canceling the bishops’ cooperative agreements. The department said they no longer matched “agency priorities.”
The bishops said they are letting employees go and are forgoing services to refugees they were supposed to help.
Judge McFadden said he is bound by precedent that said contract disputes like this one must be heard by another body.
“Like those plaintiffs, the conference asks the court to order the government to cancel the termination, pay money due, and reinstate the contracts. That is something this court lacks the power to do,” he wrote.
Judge McFadden said his ruling doesn’t mean that the bishops are wrong about their claims, but that he can’t decide on them at this point in a preliminary injunction, which is what the bishops were seeking.
