PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Department of Justice filed notice Monday that it would appeal a court order that its agencies keep federal assistance flowing to states.

Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s administration indicated they will appeal U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr.’s order barring the government from freezing federally appropriated funding to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

McConnell ruled in favor of a challenge brought by Democratic-led states, including Rhode Island, to a federal funding freeze that they argued created chaos and jeopardized crucial services. Shortly after Trump took office, federal agencies were directed to ensure that all spending aligned with the administration’s priorities on gender ideology, climate change and foreign aid.

"Here, the Executive put itself above Congress. It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending,” McConnell said in granting a preliminary injunction.

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month

Last month, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the federal government's request for an immediate stay of McConnell’s previous order barring it from pausing federal spending .

Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, observed that four judges on the appeals court were appointed under President Joe Biden and that the chief judge was named by President Barack Obama.

According to Tobias, legal observers are suggesting that cases challenging Trump executive orders and other actions may now be filed first in district courts of the 1st Circuit instead of the 4th and 9th circuit appeals courts as was the case in the first Trump administration. That is due, in part, he said, to Trump’s appointment of 10 conservative judges to the 9th circuit court.

The case is one of dozens of challenges brought against the Trump administration.