WASHINGTON— Tuesday, a federal judge agreed to continue blocking President Donald Trump’s administration from freezing grants and loans potentially totaling trillions of dollars.

U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington, D.C., issued a preliminary injunction requested by groups representing thousands of nonprofits and small businesses. It’s the first such order since the Trump administration announced a sweeping pause on federal aid, stirring up a wave of confusion and anxiety across the U.S..

The judge said the administration “cannot pretend that the nationwide chaos and paralysis from two weeks ago is some distant memory with no bearing on this case.”

The administration rescinded a memo outlining its planned funding freeze after AliKhan temporarily blocked it earlier this month. A second judge in Rhode Island also issued a temporary restraining order blocking any pause in federal spending pause in a separate lawsuit filed by nearly two dozen states.

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