WASHINGTON — In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday sided against the Trump administration regarding a dispute over foreign aid, declining to reprimand a federal judge who had set a swift deadline for the release of billions of dollars.
The court’s ruling directed U.S. District Judge Amir Ali to clarify his prior order mandating the Republican administration to disburse nearly $2 billion in aid for completed projects.
While this represents a setback for the Trump administration in the immediate term, the nonprofit organizations and businesses involved in the lawsuit are still awaiting the funds they claim to be owed. According to court documents, one of these organizations was compelled to lay off 110 employees last week as a consequence of the delay.
This is the second instance in which the administration has unsuccessfully sought Supreme Court intervention to curb the actions of a lower-court judge in legal challenges to Trump’s policies.
Justice Samuel Alito, supported by four other conservative justices in his dissent, argued that Ali lacked the authority to mandate the payments. Alito expressed his dismay, stating that the court was rewarding “an act of judicial hubris and imposes a $2 billion penalty on American taxpayers.”
The court’s decision upholds Ali’s temporary restraining order, which had suspended the spending freeze. Ali is scheduled to hold a hearing on Thursday to consider a more enduring suspension.
The majority opinion pointed out that the administration had not contested Ali’s original order, only the deadline, which had already passed the previous week.
The court instructed Ali to “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.”
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, both conservatives, joined the court’s three liberal justices in forming the majority.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh aligned with Alito’s dissent.
The Trump administration has asserted that the situation has evolved, replacing a broad spending freeze with individualized assessments that led to the termination of 5,800 U.S. Agency for International Development contracts and an additional 4,100 State Department grants, totaling nearly $60 billion in aid.
The federal government halted foreign aid following an executive order issued by Trump, targeting programs he deemed wasteful and inconsistent with his foreign policy objectives.
The subsequent lawsuit alleged that the funding pause violated federal law and had disrupted funding for even the most critical life-saving initiatives abroad.
Ali initially ordered the temporary reinstatement of funding on February 13th. However, almost two weeks later, finding no indication of government compliance, he established a deadline for releasing payments for completed work.
The administration appealed, characterizing Ali’s order as “incredibly intrusive and profoundly erroneous” and objecting to the mandated timeline for releasing the funds.
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