A federal court has informed the Trump administration that "we changed our minds" is not, in fact, a legally recognized method of cancelling a $7 billion program. Judge Mary McElroy, a Trump appointee in Rhode Island, vacated the Environmental Protection Agency's move to terminate the Solar For All (SFA) program and claw back its funding - a program designed to bring rooftop solar power to disadvantaged communities.

The SFA program was funded by the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, while the Trump-era One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) rescinded any "unobligated" balances in the program. The administration apparently read "unobligated" as "whatever we feel like," an interpretation McElroy declined to endorse.

"The OBBBA did not convert SFA funding into a lump-sum amount subject to EPA's discretion," she wrote. "Instead, Congress's clear intent was that EPA continue to administer the already obligated SFA grants. Defendants acted contrary to this intent, and with no other statutory authority, when they terminated the SFA program."

In other words: the money was already promised, Congress said to keep promising it, and the EPA cannot simply declare the whole thing over. The judge declared the termination unlawful and tossed it out, delivering a blow to the administration's government-spending reduction efforts and its campaign against Biden-era climate programs.

An EPA spokesperson said the agency is "reviewing the decision and considering options for appeal" - bureaucratic for "we are checking whether the judge can be overruled by vibes."

Environmental advocates, including those who sued, were considerably less diplomatic. "The court ruled the Trump Administration never should have terminated Solar for All because Congress intended it to continue, and EPA broke the law when it killed the program and pocketed the money," said Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Nick Torrey in a written statement. "Electricity bills are skyrocketing, so low-cost solar projects - which guarantee big savings - are needed now more than ever. Today's victory means EPA must stop sitting on the $7 billion in funding for this program and start getting it out into communities to provide hardworking American families much-needed relief."