Appeals Court Rules Against EPA on Frozen Climate Grants

A divided federal appeals court ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acted improperly when it terminated billions of dollars in climate-related grant funding. The funding had been frozen since early in President Trump's second term, according to reporting from the Associated Press and The New York Times. The appeals court's decision found that the EPA could not block the previously awarded climate grants, reversing the agency's termination of the funds. Both the Associated Press and The New York Times reported the ruling came from a divided panel, indicating disagreement among the judges, though the specific vote count, dollar figures, and names of the judges involved were not detailed in the available reporting. The case addressed grant funding tied to federal climate programs that had been paused amid broader administration efforts to reassess federal climate spending. The current status of the frozen funds following the ruling, including whether the EPA plans to appeal or how quickly the money would be released, remains unresolved based on available reporting. It is also unclear which specific grant programs or recipients are affected, and whether this ruling applies nationally or to specific plaintiffs. A separate, unrelated legal matter reported by the Hawaii Attorney General's office in April 2026 describes a federal court dismissing a U.S. government lawsuit that sought to block Hawaii's state-court case against fossil fuel companies; this development is not connected to the EPA climate grant ruling and involves separate parties, courts, and timelines.