Another late-night legal fight, another Supreme Court win for Trump. Chief Justice John Roberts stepped in to block an activist judge’s demand that the administration instantly unfreeze $2 billion in foreign aid. A much-needed pause on what looked like a judicial overreach.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, had ordered the State Department and USAID to resume payments by midnight Wednesday. That gave the administration less than 36 hours to comply—an absurdly rushed timeline for distributing billions in taxpayer dollars. Trump’s team called foul, and Roberts agreed.
Solicitor General Sarah Harris laid it out clearly: “The President’s power is at its apex—and the power of the judiciary is at its nadir—in matters of foreign affairs.” Translation? Judges don’t get to hijack the Executive Branch’s control over foreign aid. The administration had legitimate concerns about fraud and waste, and slamming the floodgates open overnight was reckless.
Judge Ali didn’t care. He was reportedly frustrated that the administration wasn’t moving fast enough, so he set a hard deadline—ignoring the real-world logistics of processing massive government payments. But Trump’s team wasn’t about to be steamrolled. They rushed to the Supreme Court, arguing that Judge Ali’s order wasn’t just unreasonable—it was impossible to execute without creating chaos.
Roberts’ ruling isn’t final, but it buys Trump valuable time. The administration can now properly review the aid process instead of rubber-stamping payments under a rushed court order. A clear check on judicial overreach.
The battle over foreign aid spending is just one piece of a much larger fight. Trump has repeatedly clashed with federal judges trying to dictate policy from the bench. This time, the Supreme Court stepped in before the damage was done.
Sources:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/25/foreign-aid-funding-state-department-022736
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/26/supreme-court-conservative-trump-agenda-00206066