In Trump win, US appeals court lifts order requiring resumption of foreign aid
Federal appeals court voted 2-1 to lift lower court order requiring Trump administration to resume billions in foreign aid
State Department
WASHINGTON
A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down a lower court ruling requiring the State Department to resume billions of dollars in foreign aid payments, marking a significant victory for President Donald Trump.
In a 2-1 decision, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that a judge had wrongly ordered the administration to release funds that Congress had already approved.
“The district court erred in granting that relief because the grantees lack a cause of action to press their claims. They may not bring a freestanding constitutional claim if the underlying alleged violation and claimed authority are statutory,” wrote US Circuit Judge Karen Henderson, joined by Trump appointee Gregory Katsas.
Florence Pan, a judge appointed by Trump’s onetime opponent, former President Joe Biden, dissented, writing: “My colleagues in the majority excuse the government’s forfeiture of what they perceive to be a key argument, and then rule in the President’s favor on that ground, thus departing from procedural norms that are designed to safeguard the court’s impartiality and independence.”
Trump halted all foreign aid for 90 days on Jan. 20, the day he returned to the White House for his second term, and later moved to curtail operations of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Normally, under the US Constitution, Congress has the “power of the purse” – the power to allocate funds through legislation – and the president’s job is to use those funds to fulfill the law.
