A United States appeals court has ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump can move forward with terminating more than $16bn in federal grants awarded to climate change nonprofits.

On Tuesday, the US Appeals Court for the District of Columbia voted, two to one, to overturn a lower court’s decision preventing the grants from being revoked.

Writing for the majority, Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, argued that the lower court did not have the power to offer a ruling in the case.

Instead, she wrote that the case should have gone to the Court of Federal Claims, dedicated to weighing contract and monetary disputes.

“District courts have no jurisdiction to hear claims that the federal government terminated a grant agreement arbitrarily or with impunity,” Rao wrote. “Claims

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