The Supreme Court on Sept. 9 granted a Trump administration request to temporarily withhold approximately $4 billion in foreign aid funding previously authorized by Congress.
The federal government’s emergency application in U.S. Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Global Health Council v. Trump was granted by Chief Justice John Roberts one day after it was filed with the nation’s highest court.
The court issued an administrative stay, which puts a lower court order requiring the release of the funding on hold to give the justices more time to fully consider the matter. The court did not provide reasons for its decision.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) had asked the justices to pause a ruling by Washington-based U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, who ordered the federal government to spend about $4 billion in previously appropriated funds.
The money is earmarked for foreign aid and United Nations peacekeeping projects.
The Supreme Court’s new order states that Ali’s orders of Sept. 3 in the two cases are “hereby partially stayed for funds that are subject to the President’s August 28, 2025 [rescission] proposal currently pending before Congress pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court.”
Hellbound and Down 