AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.A judge in Virginia temporarily blocked the Trump administration from transferring money in or out of the fund until the court could hear arguments in June.The order came from the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, in a case brought by a group of people who say they have faced partisan attacks by the Trump administration but expect to be excluded from accessing the fund.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York TimesMay 29, 2026Updated 11:48 a.m. ETA federal judge barred the government on Friday from taking steps to launch President Trump’s $1.8 billion fund, for now prohibiting the establishment of the fund, which is intended to pay people the administration finds were harmed by the federal government.The brief order by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia prohibits the government from establishing the fund or processing disbursements at least until a hearing is held in June in a pending lawsuit challenging its legality.The order came in a case brought by a group of individuals and entities who say they have faced partisan attacks by the Trump administration but who say they expect to be excluded from accessing the fund.The halt provided the first meaningful, if potentially temporary, roadblock to efforts to compensate the president’s political allies since plans for the fund were formalized this month. At least two other lawsuits challenging the fund have also been filed in the District of Columbia and in California, and a number of lawmakers, including prominent Republicans, have publicly objected to its aims.Mr. Trump has celebrated the fund as a source of relief for victims of “weaponization and lawfare” under Democratic administrations, and a number of Mr. Trump’s allies, including rioters convicted of crimes during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, have announced plans to apply.Judge Brinkema, a Clinton appointee, described the order as necessary to preserve the status quo and to “ensure that no funds are irreversibly disbursed” until she holds an initial hearing in the case on June 12. Until then, her order prohibited “the transferring of money to the fund; the consideration of any claims submitted to the fund; and the disbursing of any funds from the fund.”Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT