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In a two-page memo the day before, the acting head of the White House budget office instructed agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance”.

Judge AliKhan on Tuesday said she was issuing a brief stay that would “preserve the status quo” until she can hold an oral argument, now set for Monday morning.

The White House directive could have impacted billions of dollars meant for federal programmes, from disaster relief to cancer research.

In a post on X, Diane Yentel, the president of the National Council of Nonprofits, the organisation that brought the lawsuit, celebrated the ruling.

“Our lawsuit was successful – the US district court is blocking OMB (Office of Management and Budget) from moving forward on its reckless plan to halt federal funding,” she wrote.

In the lawsuit, her organisation wrote that Trump’s order seeks to “eradicate essentially all federal grant programs”.

It argues that Trump’s order is “devoid of any legal basis or the barest rationale” and will have ripple effects throughout the entire United States and beyond.

This is separate from a pending action by a coalition of Democratic states attorneys general who have said they will file lawsuit to block the order, calling it unconstitutional.

“My office will be taking imminent legal action against this administration’s unconstitutional pause on federal funding,” New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote on social media. “We won’t sit idly by while this administration harms our families.”

Speaking to reporters in her first ever briefing on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the pause in funding would allow governments to cut back spending for “woke” gender issues and diversity programmes.

Stephen Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff, also defended the directive before the judge’s decision was announced, telling reporters that this would allow the government to get “credit control”.

“It does not impact any federal programmes that Americans rely on,” he said, answering a question about whether “Meals on Wheels” food delivery programme would be affected.

On Tuesday, several states reported issues accessing funds through Medicaid, a government health insurance programme for low-income people. The White House later said the programme would not be affected and that the problem would be resolved soon.

The White House said earlier that Medicare and Social Security benefits would not be affected either, nor would any programme “that provides direct benefits to individuals”, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps.

In a letter to the White House, top Democrats expressed “extreme alarm” about the plan to pause funding.

“The scope of what you are ordering is breathtaking, unprecedented, and will have devastating consequences across the country,” wrote Washington Senator Patty Murray and Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro.