On Wednesday, a strongly divided Supreme Court judged that the Trump administration had to comply with an order from the District Court and pay nearly $ 2 billion in foreign aid funds to non -profit aid groups for work already completed on behalf of the government.
The court ruled 5-4 with chief judge John Roberts and judge Amy Condey Barrett to liberal judges.
The court has not developed the decision, but said that the district court judge should “clarify what obligations the government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary prohibition order, with respect due to the feasibility of any period of conformity”.
The Supreme Washington Court, June 30, 2024.
Susan Walsh / AP, file
A judge of the lower court currently weighs whether or not to impose a longer -term preliminary injunction against the freezing of foreign aid.
Justice Samuel Alito said in his dissent that he had been “amazed” by the majority’s decision.
“Does a district district judge probably lack jurisdiction have the uncontrolled power to force the United States government to pay (and probably to lose forever)[s in] Dollars of taxpayers? The answer to this question should be a categorical “no”, but the majority of this court apparently thinks the opposite, “he wrote.
The Trump administration did not immediately comment on the decision.
The administration initially attempted to freeze the payments via a decree before the judge of the American district court, Amir Ali, ordered that payments take up a temporary prohibition order made three weeks ago.
Last week Ali, appointed by Biden, judged last week that last week judged that the administration had violated the terms of a temporary ban prescription and ordered the Trump administration to distribute delayed payments before 11:59 p.m. on February 26.
President Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk who speaks in the oval office of the White House, on February 11, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Brandon / AP
Lawyers from the Ministry of Justice acknowledged that the Trump administration had ignored the temporary prohibition order, which forbade them to freeze foreign aid since the order was made. Instead, they argued that they should not be required to reimburse money due to “sovereign immunity”.
During an prolonged exchange with Ali, an MJ lawyer struggled to answer fundamental questions about the compliance of the Trump administration with the temporary prohibition order.
Chief judge Roberts ordered a suspension before the deadline when the court heard the case.
Foreign aid groups took bankruptcy following Trump’s decision to end the aid and looked for answers.
USAID employees are seen in the international care warehouse in the western city of Ramallah on May 10, 2006 because they are ready to load two trucks with medical supplies given to the Gaza Strip.
Jamal Aruri / AFP via Getty Images
During a meeting of February 13 with representatives of these organizations, Pete Marocco, the Trump administration manager responsible for the dismantling of the American Agency for International Development (USAID) defended what he called a “total review based on zero”, and arguing that certain areas of foreign aid required “a radical change”, according to the audio of this meeting which was obtained by ABC News.
“With regard to payment, one of the reasons why there have been problems with some of the payments is that, despite the president’s decree, despite the secretary’s advice, we still had harmful actors in agencies trying to reject hundreds of illegal payments,” said Moroccoco. “And so we were able to take control of this, stop them, take control of some of these people and make sure that money does not come out.”
Marocco suggested that payments for organizations with existing contracts would resume the following week, but they remained frozen.
Will Steakin, Lucien Brugeman and Shannon K. Kingston, Will Newin, contributed to this report.
