The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Wednesday against the Trump administration and sided with a lower court judge’s order for the government to pay around $2 billion to US Agency for International Development (USAID) contractors. The high court rejected the Department of Justice’s emergency application and sent it back down to the lower court for further proceedings.
The one-page order stated that the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order on February 13 blocking the Trump administration from enforcing directives that pause the distribution of foreign development aid funds.
On February 25, the District Court ordered the Trump administration to issue payments for part of the paused payments, which were for work already completed before the issuance of the temporary restraining order. This amounted to around $2 billion. A deadline was issued for the Trump administration to comply of 11:59 pm on February 26, hours before which the administration filed their request to intervene with the Supreme Court.
