Chief justice halts lower court decision ordering Trump administration to pay State Department, USAID contractors
Washington – Chief Justice John Roberts approved a request for the Trump administration to hold a lower court order late Wednesday This requires it to pay an estimated $2 billion Foreign aid funds for the State Department and U.S. International Development Program before midnight Wednesday.
Roberts oversees emergency relief requests arising from the District of Columbia case Action alone In stopping the decision of the federal district judge issued Tuesday. Judge U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali delivered to the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) until Wednesday at 11:59 p.m., paying the contractor a bill for the work completed by February 13. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the controversy involving the Frozen Extern Earth Assis Funds earlier that night.
Roberts gave the State Department and the USAID contractors (USAID contractors) by noon Friday in response to the Trump administration’s request.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday night that the Trump administration said it would eliminate more than 90% of foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. aid. The AP cites an internal memorandum that has been obtained and filed a federal lawsuit involving aid.
In a bid for emergency relief in the Supreme Court, Acting Attorney General Sarah Harris said Ali’s order was estimated at $2 billion and said his Wednesday night deadline “moved the goal post.”
“It is not tailored to any actual payment term related to the invoice or division requests of the respondent or anyone else. It has attributed orderly review to chaos by the government,” she wrote.
Harris said officials at the “highest level of the administration” were involved in the matter and told the Supreme Court that the Trump administration was “working to review payment requests and release payments.”
“The administration is conscientiously responsible for the constitutional obligation to comply with Article 3 court orders,” she wrote.
But she warned that the district court deadline “makes full compliance impossible”, partly because restarting funds related to the cancellation or suspension of the agreement requires multiple steps, multiple agencies and documentary evidence.
Attorneys demanded an administrative stay to maintain the status quo, “to ensure that institutions are not in a position to violate federal court orders, even if thousands of requests are requested within the 30-hour deadline, despite their efforts, the court examined the merits of their challenge.”
The Trump administration has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Columbia Circuit and asked it to suspend the lower court’s ruling. But the DC Tour has not taken action on Wednesday night. Harris said the government is seeking Supreme Court intervention “in view of this particular situation.”
But shortly after the Trump administration formally demanded relief from the Supreme Court, the appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s request to suspend the district court ruling. A panel of three judges on the DC Tour said Ali’s order could not be appealed.
Ali, appointed in 2024 by former President Joe Biden, oversees cases filed by a group of companies, nonprofits and other companies receiving funds from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. he Issuing temporary restriction orders Earlier this month, the Trump administration was unable to freeze foreign aid funds into contracts and other rewards as the lawsuit continued.
But the contractor told Alibaba earlier this week that despite ordering foreign aid funds, it has not flowed and sought timely payments for the work completed a few weeks ago. International Development Group said they owe millions of dollars in invoices and reimbursements and warned the Trump administration that failed to restore funds, forced them to lay off employees and ended key overseas plans.
Ali approved their motion to enforce an earlier order and paid 36 hours bills to the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Justice Department lawyers said in another document that they estimated that the payments covered by the Alibaba order were close to $2 billion, and for challengers alone, the amount involved was at least $250 million.
“This new order requires huge payments in less than 36 hours, which deeply invades the privileges of the executive branch, and the presidential obligations under Article 2 to exercise these laws with caution,” they wrote in a copy. ” Register to DC circuit.
Peter Marocco, Director of Foreign Aid at the State Department declaration The government is conducting a “personalized review” of contracts and grants, warning that the process of determining these awards is a “cumbersome, multi-step process”.
He said the federal government would take “multiple weeks” to make the payments required by a district court judge.
“Restarting funds related to the termination or suspension of the agreement is not as simple as turning on the switch or faucet,” Morocco wrote in a statement.
