Supreme Court rejects Trump’s request to keep billions in foreign aid frozen

A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s request to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid approved by Congress frozen.

A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s request to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid approved by Congress frozen. However, the court did not immediately say when the money must be released, allowing the White House to continue to dispute the issue in lower courts. The ruling was 5-4. The appeal raced to the high court within days – exceedingly fast by the federal judiciary’s standards. It is the second case to reach the justices dealing with Trump’s moves to consolidate power within the executive branch and dramatically reshape the government after taking power in January. At the center of the case is billions in foreign aid from the State Department and the US Agency for International Development that Trump froze in January as he sought to clamp down spending and bring those agencies in line with his agenda. Several nonprofit groups that rely on the funding for global health and other programs sued, asserting that the administration’s moves usurped the power of Congress to control government spending and violated a federal law that dictates how agencies make decisions. In a brief on Friday, the groups described the administration’s actions as having a “devastating” impact.