Supreme Court pauses lower court’s demand Trump admin pay USAID contractors

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower judge’s order requiring that the Trump administration release billions in US foreign aid that has been put on pause. US Supreme Court Justice John Roberts halted the lower federal judge’s order that required the remittance of around $2 billion in foreign aid funds to contractors by midnight. 

The ruling comes after the Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court for an emergency order to block the release of funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which the federal judge had required to happen by midnight. However, officials had previously said they wouldn’t be able to comply with the judge’s order in time.

According to the Trump administration, US District Judge Amir H. Ali's order created "an untenable payment plan at odds with the President’s obligations under Article II to protect the integrity of the federal fisc and make appropriate judgments about foreign aid – clear forms of irreparable harm."

Groups that are attempting to force the Trump administration to release the funds must respond by Friday at noon. 

According to Fox News, the Trump administration previously said it was eliminating over 90 percent of USAID's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall US assistance to countries around the world.

According to a memo obtained by the outlet, government officials were "clearing significant waste stemming from decades of institutional drift… to use taxpayer dollars wisely to advance American interests."

President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk have gutted foreign aid to reduce the amount of federal government spending. The Trump administration has also filed an emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court in another case, arguing that a lower court wrongly reinstated the head of a federal watchdog agency after President Donald Trump fired him.