Chief Justice John Roberts has temporarily paused a court-imposed midnight deadline that would have required the Trump administration to release $2 billion in frozen foreign aid.
Gatekeepers News reports that this move comes after the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal at the Supreme Court, asking the justices to halt the deadline.
The administration had frozen the foreign aid funds in January as part of a broader effort to overhaul federal spending and align it with Trump’s policy positions. However, a group of nonprofits and contractors sued, arguing that the freeze was unlawful. US District Judge Amir Ali ordered the administration to restore funding for contracts that predated the Trump administration, but the administration claimed it would take “multiple weeks” to comply.
The case has sparked concerns about the balance of power between the executive and judicial branches, with the administration arguing that the judiciary is impeding the President’s executive rights over foreign affairs.
The Supreme Court’s decision will have significant implications for US foreign aid policy and the role of the executive branch in shaping it.
