SCOTUS Hands Trump His First Legal Victory of Second Term

Chief Justice John Roberts paused a lower-court order that would have required the Trump administration to release over $1.5 billion to aid organizations for work that was approved by Congress.

The administrative stay issued by Roberts Wednesday marks President Donald Trump’s first legal victory in his expansive effort to consolidate power in the executive branch in part by encroaching on Congress’s power and responsibility to determine how federal funds are spent.

The stay came just hours after Washington D.C. District Court Judge Amir Ali issued an order requiring the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State to unfreeze funds to AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Journalism Development Network by before midnight Wednesday.

The AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition works to end the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the Journalism Development Network is a global collection of investigative journalists that help people understand how organized crime and corruption affect their lives.

The funding freeze has pushed AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, Journalism Development Network and several other USAID partners toward financial ruin and has disrupted critical humanitarian assistance around the world.

Funding to both organizations was halted by Trump’s day-one directive to halt all foreign assistance for 90 days. Two weeks ago, Judge Ali issued a temporary restraining order requiring the administration to resume foreign assistance funding. 

Despite Ali’s order, the nonprofit groups, including the ones that brought the lawsuit, said funding was never restored. Ali last week determined that the administration failed to comply with his previous restraining order. That determination prompted his deadline Wednesday, which the Trump administration swiftly appealed to the Supreme Court. 

Roberts’ administrative stay maintains the freeze in order to give the Supreme Court additional time to review written arguments in the cases. Sometime in the coming days, the court may decide to extend its pause on Judge Ali’s order or could require the administration to unlock funding.

The pause to Ali’s order came shortly before the Trump administration said in a court filing and an internal memo it plans to eliminate over 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in U.S. foreign assistance.