Federal judge orders Trump administration to cancel remaining taxpayer-funded promotional TV ads

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Sunday night to cancel any remaining television advertisements paid for with taxpayer money that promote the president’s political message. US District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon of the Southern District of New York granted a temporary restraining order sought by Common Cause, a labour union and an Alabama state legislative candidate.

The order took effect at 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time and lasts two weeks. It requires the government to cancel or cause to be cancelled any ads still set to air, including those scheduled for Sunday evening, and bars the use of Department of Homeland Security funds to develop, place or air the challenged advertisements. Rochon found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits, would suffer irreparable harm without an injunction, and that the balance of equities and the public interest favoured the order.

The Justice Department had told the court late Saturday that the ad campaign was already set to end Sunday night and that no further buys were planned with the current vendor. Rochon ruled that the dispute was not moot. The administration said in filings that it had already spent about $19–20 million on the ads. The money came from a larger Homeland Security package tied to immigration enforcement.

The advertisements have run on cable and broadcast networks in recent weeks. They end with a disclosure that they were paid for by the US government. Critics, including some Republicans, called them political propaganda timed ahead of the midterm elections. The White House has described them as public-service announcements of the kind previous administrations have run. Trump said earlier that he viewed them as a positive promotion for the country but that taxpayers would no longer fund them and that his political action committee would take over.

Common Cause President Virginia Kase Solomón said the group would continue until no president of any party could use taxpayer funds for propaganda. Multiple lawsuits have been filed, including one by the Democratic National Committee. Rochon’s order is the first known judicial block of the campaign.

The practical effect is that any remaining spots scheduled for Sunday night must be pulled and no new DHS-funded placements can be made for the next two weeks unless the order is lifted. Whether the administration will seek to continue the ads with private funds is a separate question not addressed by the restraining order.