Supreme Court Sides With Trump In USAID Funding Dispute For Now
The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily paused a lower court’s directive that required the Trump administration to release almost $2 billion in foreign aid payments by the end of the day on Wednesday.
At the heart of the conflict is the administration’s decision to withhold funds managed by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In an urgent filing submitted by the Justice Department, officials argued that more time was necessary to thoroughly review the pending payments for potential fraud or misuse. The department warned that complying with the accelerated deadline could cause “irreparable financial damage,” according to reporting from the Washington Examiner.
The Supreme Court, without commenting on the substance of the case, asked all involved parties to file additional responses by Friday, as noted in a brief order from Chief Justice John Roberts.
“The order does not limit its abrupt deadline to respondents’ own invoices or letters of credit, instead apparently compelling the government to pay requests from any organization that has asked for such funds,” explained acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris.
This legal battle began after contractors and humanitarian groups filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s decision to suspend foreign aid payments for 90 days, in order to allow time for a policy review.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali—who was appointed by President Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor—had previously ruled that the freeze was unlawful and ordered the administration to lift the suspension by February. However, the plaintiffs contend that the government still hasn’t disbursed the payments.
On Tuesday, Judge Ali issued a fresh order giving the administration until exactly 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday to release the funds. He also sharply criticized government officials for disregarding his earlier directive. During a hearing, Indraneel Sur, representing the government, was unable to outline specific steps taken to process the payments.
In Ali’s most recent ruling, he reiterated for the third time that the administration must release the frozen foreign aid that was halted after Trump issued his 90-day suspension order.
Trump had requested an extension, but the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia declined to delay the Wednesday midnight deadline. In its ruling, the three-judge panel stated the Trump administration “has not shown that the enforcement orders disrupt the status quo by requiring them to do anything more than they would have had to do absent the temporarily restrained agency actions, which are the subject of ongoing preliminary injunction briefing.”
The plaintiffs argue that Trump’s sweeping aid suspension—which also triggered stop-work orders that halted USAID projects globally—has obstructed crucial humanitarian assistance.
The administration, however, maintains that the broad scope of the order—impacting all foreign aid recipients—unintentionally restricts the president’s discretion and sidesteps regular policy review procedures.