A federal judge temporarily blocked the Department of Justice from canceling grants to the American Bar Association. After the ABA joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration, the DOJ cut a number of grants to the organization — a move the judge ruled was aimed at punishing the organization for exercising its right to petition the courts.

The case came to U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper after the ABA sued the DOJ last month in an attempt to challenge the cancellation of the grants. The ABA argued that the DOJ illegally ended five federal grants in retaliation for the organization joining a lawsuit against the Trump administration. On Wednesday, Cooper granted a request from the ABA for a preliminary injunction to halt the government from terminating the grants as the case proceeds.