High court upholds order on aid groups
Judge directed Trump administration to pay for work done before freeze
By: Maureen Grippe
USA today
WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday [03/05/2025] rejected the Trump administration's request to block an oder that set a deadline for the administration to pay foreign aid organizations for work already performed for the government.
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Because the original deadline has lapsed, the court said the judge should clarify how the government should comply "with due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines: - but did not overturn the order.
..... The court did not provide a rationale
for its signed order.
..... Four of the court's conservative justices - Samiuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh - dissented.
..... Altio wrote he is "stunned" tat a majority of the court thinks one district judge has "the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion tap ayer dollars."
..... Soon after taking office in January, [0225] Trump froze foreign assistance, ridiculing some of the past spending choices and accusing the agency that overseas much of the assistance of being run by "radical left lunatics."
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Some of the organizations that receive grants or contract with the government to run public health and other programs in other countries sued, including asking a federal judge to immediately step in because the sudden loss of funding plunged them into "financial turmoil."
..... U.S. district Judge Amir Ali, who was appointed to the bench by former President Joe Biden, temporarily blocked the administration form enacting a blanket freeze as he considers whether the administration acted legally.
..... Ali also directed the government to pay contractors who had completed work before the freeze.
..... When the contractors complained they still hadn't gotten paid, ordered the administration to do so by February 27. [2025]
..... In an emergency request, the administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene, saying the judge's deadline for disbursing what they said was nearly $2 billion in payment requests was "not logistically or technically feasible."
..... The government also argues the judge is interfering in the powers the Constitution give Trump.
..... Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris said in a Supreme Court filing on March 3 [2025] that blocking Ali's order was "warranted to prevent reinstatement of a new, shortpfused deadline that would unlawfully commandeer federal payment processes anew."
..... Harris argued that the judge's order amounted to judicial overreach and had given the administration too little time to scrutinize the invoices "to ensure the legitimacy of all payments." Lawyers representing the administration said in a separate February 26 [2025] filing that full payments could take weeks.
..... "The President's powers is at its apex - and the power of the judiciary is at its nadir - in matters of foreign affairs," Harris told the Supreme Court.
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Chief Justice John Roberts initially paused the disbursement deadline and asked the foreign groups to respond.
..... All has a hearing scheduled for Thursday [02/27/2025] on the request by the plaintiffs for a preliminary injunction. The judge has a temporary restraining order currently in place hat lasts through March 10. [2025]
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The organization called it "extraordinary" that the administration would seek the Supreme Court's review of a distinct court's compliance order for an "emergency of its won making."
..... The groups - which include the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, an international development company and a refugee assistance organization - said the administration was seeking permission to continue to defy the lower court after making no effort to meet a deadline it now says is impossible.
..... In the meantime, they said, Americans who work for their organizations have slot there jobs, businesses have been ruined, food is rotting and critical medical care is being withheld.
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"These are the fruits of the government's action," they wrote.
..... The administration has said it's ending more than 90% of the foreign aid contracts disbursed through the U.S. Agency for International Development, an entity it's dismantling, and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world.
..... Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest person, have taken dramatic steps to reshape and shrink the federal government. They have dismantled some agencies, fired thousands of workers, dismissed or reassigned hundreds of officials and removed the heads of independent agencies, among other actions.
.... As he moves to end American-backed humanitarian efforts in numerous countries, Trump's administration has sent funding termination notices to key organization the global aid community. Global aid groups have said the U.S. retreat endangers the lives of million of the world's most vulnerable people, including those facing deadly diseases and those living in conflict zones.
..... Contributing: Reuters