Supreme Court briefly pauses order for Trump admin to imminently release foreign aid

Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily delayed a midnight deadline for the Trump administration to unfreeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid payments, imposed by a lower judge who found the administration had flouted his ruling. 

The administration said it could not feasibly resume payments on the rapid timeline set by U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, who on Tuesday directed the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to resume funding for foreign aid contracts and grants by the end of Wednesday. 

“This new order requiring payment of enormous sums of foreign-assistance money in less than 36 hours intrudes on the prerogatives of the Executive Branch. The President’s power is at its apex—and the power of the judiciary is at its nadir—in matters of foreign affairs,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in the emergency motion to the high court.

By default, the request went to Roberts, who handles emergency appeals arising from the nation’s capital. His pause lasts until the court decides whether to wipe Ali’s ruling, which Roberts could decide himself or refer to full court for a vote. 

Roberts ordered the plaintiffs to respond in court filings by mid-day Friday.

But for now, Roberts’s decision means the administration does not have to release the funding by midnight, handing Trump a temporary win in his broader effort to dismantle USAID. 

However, it leaves the USAID contractors and nonprofits who sued in limbo. 

The coalition wrote in court filings that, unless the administration pays up, several plaintiffs and their members could be forced to cease operations this week, contending that “time truly is of the essence.” 

“After flouting the district court’s temporary restraining order for a full twelve days in letter and in spirit — requiring the district court to not once, not twice, but three times order compliance — Defendants bring this premature appeal in a last-ditch effort to evade the order of an Article III court,” wrote lawyer Stephen Wirth.  

“The lengths to which the government is going to flout a court order, all for the goal of ending life-saving humanitarian assistance, is staggering,” Allison Zieve, director of Public Citizen Litigation Group, which represents one group of plaintiffs, said in a statement.

The Justice Department pushed back, insisting there are other legal avenues for the groups to try to access funding they believe they are owed. 

Since taking office, Trump has looked to effectively dismantle USAID, including through his executive order demanding a pause in all federal aid payments. Most USAID staff have been placed on administrative leave and blocked from accessing their offices or internal systems, and many others have been fired. 

The initiative comes as Trump seeks to transform federal spending to align with his administration’s agenda. 

Before Ali, an appointee of former President Biden, set the midnight deadline, he ruled that the Trump administration violated his order but declined to hold officials in civil contempt over the transgression.  

In a separate case, a federal judge in Rhode Island also determined that the Trump administration dodged a court order, ruling that the government failed to fully unfreeze U.S. federal aid, despite his order to block the sweeping pause. 

Updated at10:05 p.m. EDT