A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to halt any further airing of taxpayer-funded television ads touting the president, ruling they are likely illegal.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon in New York issued a four-page order late Sunday that barred the administration from using government funds to distribute the ads. The judge, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, said the administration must cancel "any slot, placement, reservation, or arrangement for the airing or dissemination of the challenged advertisements."
The order applied immediately to any ads scheduled to run later on Sunday night, but it wasn't immediately clear whether the ruling kept any additional ads off the air.
The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department in a weekend filing said the ad buy was slated to end on Sunday.
The ads, which predominantly feature Trump and promote the administration's policies, started airing on national television in September. They were paid for by federal funds from the Department of Homeland Security.
President Trump personally pushed for the ads and was involved in their creation, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
The judge's ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by plaintiffs including the advocacy group Common Cause and a Democratic candidate running for office in Alabama. They argued that the expenditures were used for purposes not authorized by Congress and violated restrictions on using public funds for political propaganda.
"There is no legal justification -- and no precedent -- for the president to use the machinery of the government and funds set aside by Congress for other uses to influence electoral outcomes that further his own agenda," the plaintiffs said in response to the ruling.
Trump said last week that he plans to pay for the ads using funds from his MAGA Inc. super PAC rather than the federal government.