A sharply divided Supreme Court on Wednesday denied an application from the Trump administration to intervene on a lower court order requiring that the government pay obligated funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The 5-4 decision effectively upheld an order from Judge Amir Ali of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that required the government to pay almost $2 billion in foreign assistance funds last week as part of a broader court fight over the future of the agency.
The case now heads back to the district court for more action, as the court has ruled after the deadline Ali laid out in his order already passed.
Wednesday’s decision, which was not signed by any particular justice, said Ali should “clarify what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order, with due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines.”
Last month, Ali issued a temporary restraining order requiring the government to pay amounts owed for work already completed by USAID contractors. Then, after the government did not pay amounts owed, Ali issued another order last week requiring the government to pay nearly $2 billion by Wednesday evening.
Before midnight Wednesday, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. issued an “administrative stay” on Ali’s order, allowing both the government and contractors to weigh in.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in a dissent joined by three of the court’s Republican appointees, wrote that he would have granted the DOJ’s application and criticized the “self-aggrandizement” of the lower court for ruling that the government had to pay amounts owed.
“Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars? The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise,” Alito wrote. “I am stunned.”
Alito wrote that the decision “makes a most unfortunate misstep that rewards an act of judicial hubris and imposes a $2 billion penalty on American taxpayers.”
Alito criticized the judge for ruling that the government had to pay all the amounts owed, not just those owed to the plaintiffs, and that the case had been brought in district court at all rather than a special court meant to handle claims against the federal government.
The court ruling is one of several over the Trump administration’s effort to unwind USAID without Congress, including a lawsuit brought by USAID employees who have been placed on administrative leave and evacuated from foreign postings.
The case is Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition et al.
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