Supreme Court tells Trump to pay out $2 billion to USAID after rejecting his bid to pause spending
President Donald Trump’s administration still has to pay out nearly $2 billion in foreign aid to groups that work with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Supreme Court ruled.
In a 5-4 decision issued Wednesday, the court upheld a lower court ruling that requires the administration to unfreeze the funding and rejected the Justice Department’s attempts to reverse the order.
The ruling came after Chief Justice John Roberts issued an order last week temporarily pausing District Court Judge Amir Ali’s ruling that directed the Trump administration to unfreeze the nearly $2 billion in aid while the Supreme Court considered the case.
But the high court has chosen not to take up the Trump administration’s case and since the deadline for the pause in aid has passed, the court has asked the lower court to “clarify what obligations the government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order.”
Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented from the majority, arguing that a “single district-court judge” does not have the authority to “compel the government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars.”
“I am stunned,” Alito wrote for the minority.
The lawsuit was brought by a group of nonprofits and businesses that receive USAID funding to provide services.
Those groups received funding for projects, including the rollout of HIV prevention medication to high-risk communities in Africa, anti-malaria campaigns in parts of Africa, and the installation of water pumping stations in Ukraine.
After Trump and his right-hand man, billionaire Elon Musk, took aggressive action to drastically downsize and revoke authority from USAID, contractors were left without money for projects they were working on or had already completed.
Musk claimed his Department of Government Efficiency agency found waste, fraud and abuse in USAID and the agency needed to be “shut down.”
Protesters have rallied against Musk and DOGE’s efforts to dismantle USAID. The tech mogul described the agency as filled with financial abuse (Getty Images)
As part of a series of rulings in the matter, Ali said the government had to pay out certain completed contracts.
Proceedings in the case will now return to the lower court.
Other lawsuits challenging the sweeping changes the Trump administration are making in the federal workforce and government structure are likely to arrive at the Supreme Court in the coming months.
President Donald Trump’s administration still has to pay out nearly $2 billion in foreign aid to groups that work with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Supreme Court ruled.
In a 5-4 decision issued Wednesday, the court upheld a lower court ruling that requires the administration to unfreeze the funding and rejected the Justice Department’s attempts to reverse the order.
The ruling came after Chief Justice John Roberts issued an order last week temporarily pausing District Court Judge Amir Ali’s ruling that directed the Trump administration to unfreeze the nearly $2 billion in aid while the Supreme Court considered the case.
But the high court has chosen not to take up the Trump administration’s case and since the deadline for the pause in aid has passed, the court has asked the lower court to “clarify what obligations the government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order.”
Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented from the majority, arguing that a “single district-court judge” does not have the authority to “compel the government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars.”
“I am stunned,” Alito wrote for the minority.
The lawsuit was brought by a group of nonprofits and businesses that receive USAID funding to provide services.
Those groups received funding for projects, including the rollout of HIV prevention medication to high-risk communities in Africa, anti-malaria campaigns in parts of Africa, and the installation of water pumping stations in Ukraine.
After Trump and his right-hand man, billionaire Elon Musk, took aggressive action to drastically downsize and revoke authority from USAID, contractors were left without money for projects they were working on or had already completed.
Musk claimed his Department of Government Efficiency agency found waste, fraud and abuse in USAID and the agency needed to be “shut down.”
Protesters have rallied against Musk and DOGE’s efforts to dismantle USAID. The tech mogul described the agency as filled with financial abuse (Getty Images)
As part of a series of rulings in the matter, Ali said the government had to pay out certain completed contracts.
Proceedings in the case will now return to the lower court.
Other lawsuits challenging the sweeping changes the Trump administration are making in the federal workforce and government structure are likely to arrive at the Supreme Court in the coming months.
