This ruling forces the Trump administration to resume foreign aid payments after an attempt to halt funding. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, appointed by Biden, mandated that payments be made by Wednesday night, rejecting Trump’s executive order pausing aid for 90 days.
Trump’s order had aimed to temporarily freeze foreign aid grants, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlining waivers on a case-by-case basis. However, nonprofits and contractors challenged the move, arguing it caused financial harm. Judge Ali sided with them, criticizing the lack of justification for the broad suspension of congressionally approved funding.
This decision underlines the ongoing legal battles over executive power and foreign aid policies. The administration must now comply, ensuring funding continues for thousands of contracts disrupted by the freeze.
Judge: "I don’t know why I can’t get a straight answer from you. Are you aware of an unfreezing of the disbursement of funds for those contracts and agreements that were frozen before Feb. 13?"
DOJ lawyer: "I’m not in a position to answer that."
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 25, 2025
Sources:
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25535268/aliorder.pdf
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/25/foreign-aid-funding-state-department-022736