The court ruled 5-4 in backing a lower courts order that the US Government allow money to flow to work done, or money pledged thru, the US State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development ….
In essence ?
A simple ruling on contract law….
And the ‘Rule of Law’….
Could this ruling be a preview for the High Court judges backing various Federal Judges and Courts nullifying Trump, Musk and Project 2025 efforts to ignore Congressional Laws?
Me thinks this WAS a message, and a vote of support, FOR the Judical Branch on the WHOLE against a runaway President…
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices in rejecting the administration’s emergency request in the high court’s first significant action on lawsuits related to President Donald Trump’s initiatives in his second term.
The decision drew a vigorous dissent from four conservative justices who said a District Court judge in D.C. probably lacks the power to compel the federal government to make such payments.
“Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars? The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned,” wrote Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh.
A federal judge in D.C. had ordered the money to begin flowing last week, after the Trump administration appeared to flout an earlier ruling that said a 90-day freeze on all foreign aid was imposed too hastily and should be lifted for now…
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Wednesday’s decision was the first major test before the Supreme Court of Trump’s blitz of executive orders and firings in the opening weeks of his presidency. The administration is already facing more than 100 lawsuits challenging its actions in lower courts, so other rulings are sure to follow.
The majority turned aside arguments by acting solicitor general Sarah M. Harris, who called U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali’s deadline an “impossible order” since it gave officials only about 36 hours to comply. Harris also said the judge exceeded his authority, an argument the Trump administration has made repeatedly as the president seeks to significantly expand executive power…
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The lawsuit seeking to restart the funding was brought by the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Global Health Council. They said the Trump administration had defied a temporary restraining order by Ali that initially required payments to begin again in mid-February.
The organizations said the freeze had pushed aid groups to the brink of insolvency, forced layoffs and delayed lifesaving HIV drugs and food assistance to unstable regions worldwide. They said in court filings that the government created an “emergency of its own making” by falling to comply with the TRO….
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