The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a judge’s order that mandates the Trump administration to unfreeze approximately $2 billion in foreign aid payments.
According to a brief order from Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday night, the lower court’s order was paused until the justices considered the case.
Hours before the midnight deadline for payment, Trump requested that the Supreme Court intervene.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the administration to reinstate funding for U.S. Agency for International Development contracts one day earlier.
The judge argued that Trump officials had failed to comply with an earlier order to fulfill contracts. At the same time, Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency-led attempt to dissolve the entire aid agency has caused global chaos.
On Tuesday, District Judge Amir Ali, who Joe Biden appointed, reprimanded government lawyers who could not answer whether the administration had ever paid foreign assistance contractors and nonprofit organisations for work that had already been completed.
“It has been 12 days since the order was issued, and you are unable to inform me whether any funds that you acknowledge are covered by the court’s order have been unfrozen?” “You are unable to provide me with any information regarding the unfreezing of funds under the [temporary restraining order]?”
Department of Justice counsel Indraneel Sur informed Ali that he was “not in a position to respond.”
Ali granted the government until midnight on Wednesday to complete the payments. The administration was also directed to furnish the court with any notices or guidance from officials regarding the previous court order to unfreeze the aid.
However, government solicitors stated in court filings on Wednesday that payments had not resumed. In contrast, the Department of Justice’s attorneys reported that “nearly 5,800 USAID awards were terminated, while more than 500 USAID awards were retained.”
According to attorneys representing assistance organisations suing the administration, their clients are currently experiencing a crisis, which includes forced layoffs, legal and physical threats, and the inability to pay vendors and creditors in certain countries where they operate.
A separate court ruling earlier this month cleared the way for Trump to commence the termination of thousands of employees at the global aid agency, which provides support for dozens of life-saving missions in over 100 countries. Musk has threatened to subject the agency to a “wood chipper” and has disparaged USAID as a “criminal organisation” that should be “eliminated.”
Trump’s Push to Fire Government Watchdog Raises New Legal Questions
The Supreme Court’s request could be the first test at the nation’s highest court, as Musk and the U.S. DOGE Service are confronted with a flurry of lawsuits that challenge the constitutionality of the unelected billionaire’s role in the executive branch and the administration’s authority to unilaterally dismantle federal agencies and funding that Congress has appropriated.
The administration informed the Supreme Court that the government cannot pay arbitrarily determined demands on an arbitrary timeline of the district court’s choosing or according to extra-contractual rules that the court has devised.
Separately, Trump is petitioning the Supreme Court to authorize the termination of a government watchdog.
Earlier this month, Hampton Dellinger, the senior official at the independent U.S. agency that safeguards government whistleblowers and enforces ethics regulations, filed a lawsuit against the administration after receiving an email from the president that stated his position was “terminated, effective immediately.”
The president once again requests that the court intervene in the case, although the justices did not promptly reach a decision. Acting solicitor general Sarah Harris wrote to the court on Wednesday, “In summary, a Special Counsel who has been terminated is exercising executive authority.”
