The conservative Supreme Court Justices wrote a scathing dissent on Wednesday after the majority of the court rejected the Trump Administration’s request for a continuation of a temporary freeze in foreign aid payments.
Justice Samuel Alito criticized the majority of the Supreme Court for allowing an inferior court judge to determine, on his own, the deadline for Trump’s administration to make payments totaling nearly $2 million for completed projects in foreign aid. He called the order “too extreme.”
Alito, in an eight-page scathing dissenting opinion, called the ruling an “unfortunate mistake” that “rewards judicial hubris by U.S. district judge Amir Ali.”
“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 thinks otherwise,” Alito wrote.
“I am stunned.”
Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh joined him in his dissent.
Alito, along with the other justices who dissented on Wednesday, acknowledged that plaintiffs had expressed “serious concern about nonpayment” for the completed work they provided. However, the dissenting judges argued that Ali’s order of repayment and deadline was “too severe” because it only gave the Administration two weeks to comply.
In their dissent, they stated that “the District Court made clear its frustration towards the Government and respondents raised serious concerns regarding non-payment for completed works.” The relief awarded is simply too severe.
The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision sends the case to the D.C. Federal Court – Judge Ali in particular – for a discussion on the details of when and what should be paid.
The case concerned how fast the Trump Administration needed to pay nearly $2 billion in debts owed by aid groups to contractors for projects completed with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development. This was at a moment when the Trump administration had issued a blanket ban on foreign spending to “improve government efficiency” and eliminate waste.
Last month, international contractors and groups filed a suit against the Trump Administration because the funds were frozen. The Trump administration then urgently appealed to the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice John Roberts agreed to stop the clock and allow all of the court members to review the case.
Acting U.S. Solicitor General Sarah Harris argued that while the plaintiffs’ claims were likely “legitimate,” the time set by Ali was “impossible” and “not logistically or technically feasible.”
Ali took action quickly on Wednesday in the case of unpaid foreign assistance – setting up a court hearing for Thursday afternoon.
The court issued a brief order stating that both sides should be prepared to present a schedule of payments for the Trump Administration.
