The U.S. Agency for Global Media cannot “force RFE/RL to shut down,” the judge wrote, “even if the President has told them to do so.”

Three appellate court judges sided with federal Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island. The sweeping funding freeze will be blocked until the Trump administration’s full appeal is heard.

The United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit upheld U.S. District Judge John McConnell’s ruling Wednesday, keeping a block on the Trump administration’s plans to freeze federal loans and grants through an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo.