US Leader, Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a legal battle over billions of dollars in foreign aid funding that his administration is trying to block from being spent.
In an emergency appeal filed Tuesday, the Trump administration warned that unless the justices act by next week, a lower court ruling will force the government to release approximately $12 billion in foreign aid, a move it argues could cause “irreparable diplomatic costs” and override the administration’s foreign-policy decisions.
The dispute stems from cuts the Trump administration sought to make to funding previously approved by Congress for global health and HIV/AIDS programs. A district court had ordered the funds to be disbursed, despite an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit that only Congress not nonprofit organizations has the legal authority to challenge such funding changes.
The appeals court ruling favored Trump, but the full DC Circuit is still reviewing the case. Meanwhile, the district court’s order remains active, prompting the administration to seek immediate Supreme Court intervention.
In its filing, the Justice Department argued the district court has “installed itself as supervisor-in-chief of further spending and rescissions proposals,” compelling the government to distribute billions by September 30. The administration requested that the Supreme Court block the ruling by September 2 to prevent what it calls irreversible harm to U.S. foreign policy.
This is not the first time the dispute has reached the high court. In March, the Supreme Court narrowly declined to freeze the funds while litigation continued, allowing the case to proceed in lower courts.
