National Council of Nonprofits v. OMB

Summary

The D.C. Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction that had barred implementation of OMB Memorandum M-25-13, a short-lived directive telling agencies to temporarily pause federal financial-assistance activities pending review against newly issued executive orders. Assuming without deciding that the Memorandum imposed an across-the-board funding freeze, the panel held Plaintiffs' challenge to the since-rescinded Memorandum likely moot: OMB had issued Guidance the day after the Memorandum—before learning of the suit—disavowing any global freeze, and it never defended such a freeze in the litigation, so recurrence could not reasonably be expected and the voluntary cessation doctrine likely does not stand in the way. The court did not review the district court's merits conclusions or its reading of the Memorandum's terms.