The Trump administration is once again turning to the Supreme Court, seeking an emergency order to block billions in foreign aid from being disbursed before the fiscal year ends in September.
Late Tuesday night, Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed a request with the justices, asking them to lift a lower court’s injunction and allow the administration to halt nearly $12 billion in payments previously authorized by Congress for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Sauer warned that without intervention, the government would be forced to “rapidly obligate some $12 billion in foreign-aid funds” by September 30.
The legal battle dates back to January, when President Donald Trump, on his first day back in office, signed an executive order suspending most foreign aid programs under the banner of cutting “waste, fraud, and abuse.” That move immediately triggered lawsuits from aid groups, who argued the White House had no authority to override Congress on spending already appropriated.
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U.S. District Judge Amir Ali sided with those groups earlier this year, requiring the administration to resume USAID payments. But earlier this month, a divided three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals scaled back Ali’s injunction in a 2-1 ruling, finding the plaintiffs had not shown Trump clearly exceeded his executive powers.
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Writing for the majority, Judge Karen L. Henderson said the groups lacked proper legal standing to sue over impoundment. Still, the appellate court has not issued a mandate to enforce its ruling, meaning Judge Ali’s payment schedule technically remains in effect until further notice.
Sauer, in his appeal to the Supreme Court, emphasized that the case should not be left to private litigants. “Congress did not upset the delicate interbranch balance by allowing for unlimited, unconstrained private suits,” he wrote. “Any lingering dispute about the proper disposition of funds that the President seeks to rescind shortly before they expire should be left to the political branches, not effectively prejudged by the district court.”
The aid groups maintain the opposite, arguing that the Impoundment Control Act and the Administrative Procedure Act prevent the executive branch from holding back money already passed into law.
The showdown marks the second time in six months the justices have been asked to weigh in on Trump’s foreign aid freeze. The last time the Supreme Court ruled, it was a narrow 5-4 decision.
