Trump Request To Pause Foreign Aid Payments Granted By Supreme Court

Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily halted a judge’s requirement that the Trump administration resume nearly $2 billion in foreign-aid payments before midnight, in an order issued hours before the deadline.

Roberts’s order doesn’t resolve the dispute but gives the Supreme Court time to consider the administration’s claim that a lower court overstepped its authority when it ordered the government to quickly pay aid contractors for work completed before February 13.

The order came after Trump’s administration said in a court filing on Wednesday it had made final decisions terminating most U.S. foreign aid contracts and grants, while maintaining that it cannot meet Ali’s court-ordered deadline.

The Trump administration is cutting more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts and over $58 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, a State Department spokesperson said separately, calling the cuts part of Trump’s “America First agenda.”

Since taking office, Trump has looked to effectively dismantle USAID, including through his executive order demanding a pause in all federal aid payments. Most USAID staff have been placed on administrative leave.

Trump has taken a hard line on programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, signing an executive order in his second day in office last month directing federal agency chiefs to dismantle DEI policies.