Chief Justice John Roberts has temporarily sided with the Trump administration, halting the release of $4 billion in foreign aid while the Supreme Court reviews the dispute.
Roberts, who manages emergency appeals from Washington, DC’s federal courts, issued an administrative stay on Tuesday. The short-term order pauses a lower court decision that required the State Department and USAID to distribute the money by the end of September.
The pause gives the justices more time to weigh the case but does not guarantee how they will ultimately rule. Still, the delay could complicate efforts by grant recipients who depend on the funds for global health and HIV/AIDS programs. Roberts also instructed the plaintiffs challenging the cuts to file a response by Friday afternoon, according to a CNN report.
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The legal fight centers on billions in foreign aid that Congress approved but President Donald Trump has called “wasteful.” Since his first day in office, Trump has pursued ways to curb foreign assistance, clashing repeatedly with judges who say he overstepped his constitutional limits.
In March, US District Judge Amir Ali, appointed by President Joe Biden, rebuked the administration’s position. The spending of foreign aid, Ali wrote, is a “joint enterprise between our two political branches.” But in this case, he argued, “the executive not only claims his constitutional authority to determine how to spend appropriated funds, but usurps Congress’s exclusive authority to dictate whether the funds should be spent in the first place.”
Ali later ruled that the administration could not block the funds without congressional approval, a decision upheld by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. That prompted Trump’s legal team to seek urgent intervention from the Supreme Court.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices the lower court’s order undermines the president’s authority. “The president can hardly speak with one voice in foreign affairs or in dealings with Congress when the district court is forcing the executive branch to advocate against its own objectives,” he said.
According to filings, the administration plans to spend $6.5 billion of the contested aid by September 30 but seeks to retain control over the remaining $4 billion. Trump has asked Congress to cancel that portion through a “pocket rescission,” a rarely used maneuver that could erase the funds unless lawmakers act. The proposal has added to the tensions surrounding looming budget negotiations and the risk of a government shutdown.
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Advocacy groups challenging the freeze argue that even a temporary delay could allow the administration to run out the clock, ensuring the money is never released. “The government’s theory that the agencies need not comply with enacted legislation mandating that they spend funds, because the president has unilaterally proposed legislation to rescind those statutory mandates, would fundamentally upend our constitutional structure,” they told the court.
