In a 5-4 emergency ruling Wednesday, the Supreme Court refused to overturn a judge’s order that the Trump administration immediately release nearly $2 billion in foreign aid payments owed under existing contracts.
It is the first time Trump’s efforts to drastically reshape federal spending, agency by agency, have reached the high court, and it is a loss for the administration.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberals in opposing the administration.
Four conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh — dissented.
“Does a single district-court judge, who most likely lacks jurisdiction, have unchecked authority to compel the United States Government to pay out (and probably lose forever) $2 billion in taxpayer funds? The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court appears to believe otherwise. “I am stunned,” Alito wrote, accompanied by the three others.
The Trump administration has attempted to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), including firing employees and freezing payments to contractors, resulting in a slew of lawsuits.
The Supreme Court’s emergency decision upholds a lower court’s order requiring the administration to maintain foreign aid agreements that existed before Trump took office.
Former President Biden’s appointee, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, determined that the Trump administration was not complying with his order to resume unpaid USAID contracts and grants. Last week, Ali demanded that the funds be released by the end of the next day.
“Given that the deadline in the challenged order has now passed, and in light of the ongoing preliminary injunction proceedings, the District Court should clarify what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order, with due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines,” the unsigned ruling from the Supreme Court reads.
Following Ali’s order, the Justice Department quickly petitioned the Supreme Court, warning that the administration would be unable to comply so quickly and requesting emergency intervention.
“The Executive Branch takes seriously its constitutional duty to comply with the orders of Article III courts,” the Justice Department stated in court documents. “The government is making substantial efforts to review payment requests and release funds. Officials at the highest levels of government are working on this issue.”
Chief Justice John Roberts accepted the request by default, just hours before last week’s midnight deadline. He ordered a brief delay so that the court could hear from both sides.
Now that it has, the full court has denied the administration’s motion to maintain the funding freeze.
The suing group of USAID contractors has warned that if they do not receive the funds, they will be forced to close. They urged the justices to deny the government’s application, claiming that the judge acted within his “sound discretion.”
“The government comes to this Court with an emergency of its own making,” their lawyers stated.