A US judge has ruled that the US president and the Department of Justice abused the courts in a settlement that led to the creation of an “anti-weaponization” fund.
Published July 13, 2026
A U.S. federal judge has ruled that a civil settlement reached between President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice is illegal.
Monday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams loosely characterized the situation as self-serving.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in January, accusing the agency of failing to adequately prevent the leak of his tax returns during his first term in office.
The Justice Department then reached an agreement with President Trump to allocate $1.8 billion in settlements to a fund that will compensate those the government says are victims of the government’s “use of arms” and “laws.”
The settlement also gave Trump extensive tax protections.
Mr. Williams said in his ruling that Mr. Trump and the Justice Department were not truly working against each other in this case, as required in civil litigation under the U.S. Constitution.
“The nature of the lawsuit itself and the actions of the parties and their attorneys in filing the lawsuit make it clear that this is an attempt to use the courts to provide immunity to persons and entities associated with the President and to lend some legitimacy to an agreement that allocates billions of American taxpayer dollars to redress grievances not covered by law,” she wrote.
“It is the duty of every judge to ensure that our courts are used only for the express purposes set out in the Constitution, and it is a duty that this court must fulfill in light of the issues before us,” she said.
The ruling came after the administration had already withdrawn from the so-called “anti-weaponization fund” following pushback from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
Still, it’s a significant rebuke to the administration and could be politically damaging to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who faces confirmation hearings next week.
Williams suggested that Branch worked on behalf of both Trump and the Justice Department throughout the proceedings, noting that he “seems capable of representing both plaintiffs and defendants.”
The judge also ordered Trump’s lawyer in the case, Alejandro Brito, and other Justice Department officials who signed the settlement to be referred to state bar authorities to determine whether their actions violated legal ethics rules.
