US top court temporarily blocks district judge order for Donald Trump on foreign aid funding

The order does not limit its abrupt deadline to respondents’ own invoices or letters of credit, instead apparently compelling the government to pay requests from any organization that has asked for such funds,

acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote

To be very clear, the government is committed to paying legitimate claims for work that was properly completed pursuant to intact obligations and supported by proper documentation,

Harris wrote

The President’s power is at its apex and the power of the judiciary is at its nadir in matters of foreign affairs,

Harris wrote

Defendants have erected numerous new barriers to compliance at every turn. This conduct cannot be explained as anything other than willful defiance of the Court’s orders,

the plaintiffs said in another filing

Additional time is required because restarting funding related to terminated or suspended agreements is not as simple as turning on a switch or faucet. Rather, the payment systems of USAID and State are complicated and require various steps before payments are authorized,

the government said in another filing, estimating the process would take "multiple weeks

[R]egardless whether this Court stays the district court’s order, agency leadership has determined that the ordered payments 'cannot be accomplished in the time allotted by the district court,

their filing said

Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”

The finding

This is not something that Defendants have previously raised in this Court, whether at the hearing or any time before filing their notice of appeal and seeking a stay pending appeal,

he wrote

If Defendants wanted to propose a different schedule for achieving compliance, that is something they could have proposed to this Court and that the Court could have considered alongside Plaintiffs’ showings. Any such schedule would have to take into account that Defendants have already had nearly two weeks to come into compliance, apparently without taking any meaningful steps to unfreeze funds,

the judge added

[T ... T]op executive department officials should not, absent extraordinary circumstances, be called to testify regarding their reasons for taking official actions,

the government said

I always abide by the courts. Always abide by them, and we’ll appeal,

he said

I’m not in a position to answer that,

Sur said

The lengths that the government is willing to go to flout a court order, all for the goal of ending life-saving humanitarian assistance, is staggering,

lawyer Allison Zieve told the Reuters news agency

I’m not sure why I can’t get a straight answer from you on this: Are you aware of an unfreezing of the disbursement of funds for those contracts and agreements that were frozen before February 13?”

he asked

In response, State and USAID moved rapidly,

targeting USAID and State Department foreign aid programs in vast numbers for contract terminations, ... the memo said

The court's 11:59 p.m. 30-some-hour deadline thus moved all the goal posts,

acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in the petition, according to The Hill

The Court was not inviting Defendants to continue the [funding] suspension while they reviewed contracts and legal authorities to come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension,

Ali wrote last week

Eliminating US unique response capacity of crisis experts who help contain disease outbreaks, stabilise displaced populations – a shortsighted, high risk and frankly, stupid act,

Marcia Wong, a former deputy assistant administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, wrote on the social media platform X

For overseas personnel, USAID intends a voluntary, Agency-funded return travel program and other benefits,

USAID’s website said in its notice

Individuals that are impacted will receive specific notifications on February 23, 2025, with further instructions and information about their benefits and rights,

a notice from the Trump administration said the next day