March 5 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration must follow a previous district court order and pay out nearly $2 billion in funds to nonprofit aid groups that have already completed work on behalf of the United States government.
In a 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided Wednesday with the three liberal justices regarding the payments without explanation regarding their conclusion, but the court did state that the district court judge who issued the order needs to better explain "what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order," while taking into account the reasonability of any related timelines.
Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented in the verdict.
In his dissent, Alito stated that the majority's decision left him "stunned" and questioned if a "single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction" has the power to force the United States government to make such a payment gathered from taxpayer dollars. He further wrote that "The answer to that question should be an emphatic 'No,' but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise."
The Trump administration had put a 90-day freeze on foreign assistance, and sought assistance in that action last week from the Supreme Court following an order from U.S. District Judge Amir Ali that insisted the government pay all invoices and compensation requests to USAID and State Department contractors for all work finished before Feb. 13 by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 26.
Ali is overseeing a challenge on Trump's financial suspension brought by a group of nonprofits and enterprises that receive foreign aid funding under the argument that such a pause is an unconstitutional exercise of presidential power. Chief Justice Roberts had entered an administrative stay shortly before the deadline, but the Wednesday decision vacates that stay.
