Washington – A split panel of appeal court judges Ruled on Wednesday The Trump administration can suspend or eliminate billions of dollars of Congress approved money for foreign aid.
Two of the three judges of the US Court of appeals for the district of Columbia Circuit concluded that the grant recipient Challenge freeze The requirements for an initial prohibition did not meet which restored the flow of money.
In January, on the first day of his second term at the White House, President Trump issued an executive order, directing the State Department and the US agency to spend foreign aid for international development.
Groups of grant recipients filed a lawsuit to challenge that order, US District Judge Amir Ali Order of administration The Congress applied for the 2024 budget year to release the entire amount of foreign aid.
The appeal court’s majority partially vacated Ali’s order.
Judges Karen Lakeraft Henderson and Gregory Catsus concluded that the plaintiff did not have a legitimate legal basis for the court to listen to his claims. The ruling was not on whether the government had violated the Congress spending powers or not.
“The parties also dispute the scope of the remedy of the district court, but we do not need to resolve it … because the grant has failed to meet the requirements for initial prohibition in any event,” Henderson wrote.
Judge Florence Pan, who dissolved, said that the Supreme Court has organized “without any uncertain terms” that the President does not have the right to disregard laws for policy reasons.
PAN wrote, “Yet this is why the majority enables today.” “The majority opinion thus calls the claim of separation brought by the grant, sets an example, and allows executive branch authorities to avoid judicial review of constitutionally impervious functions.”
Money on this issue includes about 4 billion dollars to spend on global health programs for USAID and over $ 6 billion for HIV and AIDS programs. Mr. Trump has depicted foreign aid as a useless expense that does not align with his foreign policy goals.
Henderson was nominated in court by Republican President George HW Bush. Catus was nominated by Trump. PAN was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden.
