The US Supreme Court has allowed the Donald Trump administration to continue with its freeze of over $4 billion in foreign aid. The aid was approved by Congress but retracted by the Trump administration, saying it appears to have more disadvantages for the US than benefits.
The court ruled that the emergency order is not a “final determination” on the freeze, as it plays out in the lower courts. “The relief granted by the Court today reflects our preliminary view, consistent with the standards for interim relief,” the Supreme Court order said.
The US Department of Justice, led by Attorney General and Trump ally Pam Bondi, moved to the Supreme Court after US district judge Amir Ali ruled that the Trump administration must release the foreign aid.
Meanwhile, the three judges Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson objected to the ruling, saying the Trump admin does not want to spend the money because it is “contrary to US foreign policy”.
Kagan observed, “But that is just the price of living under a Constitution that gives Congress the power to make spending decisions through the enactment of appropriations law.”
Ever since his return to the White House in January, the Trump administration has drastically reduced the US foreign aid operations. The White House has constantly criticised the aid programme, which it sees as a waste of US money.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who took office a day after Trump’s inauguration, has spearheaded an effort to effectively shut down the US agency USAID.
The agency was established by then-democratic president John F. Kennedy at the height of the Cold War as part of the US foreign policy aimed at spreading goodwill in the world.
Meanwhile, Rubio has merged USAID’s programmes with the State Department, dismantling the world’s largest international aid agency.
