Supreme Court Sides With Lower Court on Foreign Aid Spending

By Morgan Sweeney | The Center Square

(Worthy News) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration in a 5-4 decision to uphold a federal judge’s court order to pay $2 billion in foreign aid for work that’s already been done.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett ruled against the administration with Biden-appointed Justice Ketanji Brown and Obama-appointed Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor – even though Roberts had paused the order days earlier for the administration. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented from the decision.

A lawsuit was quickly brought against the administration when it moved to broadly suspend foreign aid after Trump took office. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia initially entered a temporary restraining order against the administration’s halting of funds. On Feb. 25, the district court ordered the government to issue payments specifically for work that had already been done. Roberts granted an administrative stay requested by the administration, but has now vacated that order.

The lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Lauren Batemen of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, issued a statement after Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling.

“Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court confirms that the Administration cannot ignore the law,” Bateman said. “To stop needless suffering and death, the government must now comply with the order issued three weeks ago to lift its unlawful termination of federal assistance.”

Alito wrote he was “stunned” by those on the court who upheld the district court’s order.

“Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars?” he wrote. “The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned.”

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