Chief justice pauses order resuming USAID payments
By: Maureen Groppe
USA today
WASHINGTON - Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday [02/26/2025] granted the Trump administration's emergency request to pause a judge's order requiring the government to pay foreign assistance dollars to contractors and grant recipients.
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Arriving hours before the lower court's midnight deadline, Roberts' order was the first time the Supreme Court has intervened when judges have temporarily blocked the White House from taking huge steps to reshape the government and consolidate power.
..... The Trump administration told the Supreme Court on Wednesday [02/26/2025] night it is committed to paying "illegitimates" but complying with a federal judge's order midnight deadline was "not logistically or technically feasible."
..... Roberts agreed to put the oder on hold and told the grant recipients waiting for their funding to tell the court by Friday [02/28/2025] why the order should go forward.
.....His decision came after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the administration's request. The panel of three judges, all of whom were appointed by Democratic presidents, said the federal judge's order is not subject to review by a higher court at this stage of the litigation.
..... Roberts did not give a reason for his decision.
..... President Donald Trump ordered a pause on foreign aid on his first day in office, throwing humanitarian relief efforts into chaos.
..... Organizations that contract with or receive grants form the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Trump administration will illegally freezing payments.
..... U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, who was appointed to the bench by former President Joe Biden, temporarily blocked the administration from enacting a blanket freeze as he considers the challenge.
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He also directed the government to pay contractors who had completed work before the freeze.
..... When the contractors complained they still hadn't gotten paid, Ali ordered the administration to do so by midnight Wednesday. [02/26/2025]
..... "The lengths that the government is willing to go to flout a court order, all for the goal of ending life-saving humanitarian assistance, is staggering," said Allison Zieve, a lawyer representing two plaintiffs, AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalitions and Journalism Development Network.
..... "The timing of the order does not allow the government to conduct payment integrity review to ensure that payments are made only for obligations that are legitimate or supported by necessary documentation - much less deny improper payments," Sarah Harris, the acting solicitor general, told the Supreme Court.
..... She said about $4 million in payments to two organizations was initiated Wednesday [02/26/2025] but they take two days to process.
..... The State Department has said the administration is cutting more than 90% of USAID's foreign aid contract sand more than $58 billion in overall Us assistance around the world.
Contributing: Reuters