A US judge has temporarily paused part of the Trump administration's sweeping directive to pause federal loans, grants and other financial assistance, granting a win to advocacy groups who said the policy would be devastating.

At a hearing in Washington, DC, federal court, US District Judge Loren AliKhan ordered on Tuesday the Trump administration not to block "open awards," or funds that were already slated to be disbursed, until at least February 3.

The judge said her temporary ruling was intended to "maintain the status quo."

It does not block the Trump administration from freezing funding to new programmes or require it to restart funding that has already ended.

AliKhan, who was appointed by former president Joe Biden, said in halting the freeze, "It seems like the federal government currently doesn't actually know the full extent of the programmes that are going to be subject to the pause."

AliKhan scheduled another hearing for Monday at 11 am to determine the next steps.

Lack of authority

The National Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Health Association, Main Street Alliance and SAGE earlier on Tuesday sued over the directive issued by the acting head of the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Monday.

It had been set to take effect at 5 pm on Tuesday.

The groups said OMB lacked authority to unilaterally terminate all federal financial assistance programmes across the government and that the directive targeted grant recipients based in part on recipients' rights to free expression and association under the US Constitution's First Amendment.

Matthew Vaeth, OMB's acting director, said the money would be put on hold while the administration of Republican President Donald Trump reviews grants and loans to ensure they are aligned with the president's priorities, including executive orders he signed ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs.