The Supreme Court orders clarity on the order that is not released from the USAID funds

A very divided Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a request from the Trump administration to intervene in an order of the lower court that requires the government to pay forced funds of the United States Agency for International Development.

5-4 decision Effectively fulfilled an order of Judge Amir Ali, of the United States District Court for the Columbia district, which required the government to pay almost $ 2 billion in foreign assistance funds last week as part of a broader fight of the Court over the future of the agency.

The case now returns to the District Court to obtain more measures, since the Court ruled after the deadline that Ali was presented in its order was already approved.

Wednesday’s decision, which was not signed by any particular judge, said that ALI should “clarify what obligations the government must comply with to guarantee compliance with the temporary restriction order, with due consideration for the viability of any line of compliance timeline.”

Last month, ALI issued a temporary restriction order that required the government to pay the amounts owed by the work already completed by USAID contractors. Then, after the government did not pay the amounts owed, ALI issued another order last week that demanded that the Government pay almost $ 2 billion on Wednesday night.

Before midnight on Wednesday, the president of the Supreme Court John G. Roberts Jr. issued an “administrative stay” in the order of Ali, allowing both the government and the contractors to intervene.

Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., in a dissent attached by three of the appointed Republicans of the Court, wrote that he would have granted the request of the Department of Justice and criticized the “self -granderation” of the lower court by decision that the Government had to pay the appropriate amounts.

“Is a district court judge who probably lacks jurisdiction has power without control to force the United States government to pay (and probably losing forever) 2 billion dollars of taxpayers? The answer to that question should be an “not” emphatic, but most of this court apparently thinks otherwise, “Alito wrote.” I am stunned. “

Alito wrote that the decision “makes a very unfortunate false step that rewards an act of judicial arrogance and imposes a fine of $ 2 billion to US taxpayers.”

Alito criticized the judge by decision that the Government had to pay all the amounts owed, not only those due to the plaintiffs, and that the case had been filed in the District Court, instead of a special court destined to handle claims against the federal government.

The court ruling is one of several about the effort of the Trump administration to relax to USAID without Congress, including a lawsuit filed by USAID employees who have been placed on administrative license and evacuated from foreign publications.

The case is the State Department v. Coalition to promote the vaccine against AIDS et al.