Employees and supporters gather to protest outside of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) headquarters in February 2025 to protest axed funding. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Those payments have been held up in court for months, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office in January seeking to block nearly all foreign aid spending, as part of his administration’s broader crackdown on waste, fraud, and abuse.
That order was blocked by a federal judge in D.C. earlier this year. That judge, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, ordered the Trump administration to resume payments on billions of dollars in funding for USAID projects that were previously approved by Congress.
That order was overturned this month by the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which ruled 2-1 to vacate the lower court injunction.
TRUMP TEMPORARILY THWARTED IN DOGE MISSION TO END USAID
Protesters hold placards as Pete Marocco, deputy administrator-designate at USAID, attends a meeting with members of Congress on Capitol Hill in D.C. March 5, 2025. (Reuters/Kent Nishimura) (REUTERS/Kent Nishimura)
Sauer argued in the emergency Supreme Court appeal that the foreign aid groups, which sued the Trump administration this year in order to claw back some of the grant money, have no legal authority to challenge the executive branch on the matter, which is technically under the legal jurisdiction of the Impoundment Control Act.
"Congress did not upset the delicate interbranch balance by allowing for unlimited, unconstrained private suits," Sauer wrote. "Any lingering dispute about the proper disposition of funds that the President seeks to rescind shortly before they expire should be left to the political branches, not effectively prejudged by the district court."
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Plaintiffs, for their part, have argued that the executive branch lacks the authority to unilaterally withhold already-appropriated funds, under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA), as well as the Administrative Procedure Act.
The Supreme Court previously ruled 5-4.
Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-asks-scotus-uphold-freeze-billions-usaid-payments