Supreme Court stays judge order requiring Trump to spend foreign aid

The Supreme Court on Tuesday paused a court order requiring President Donald Trump to distribute roughly $4 billion in foreign aid that he has tried to cancel through a "pocket rescission," Reuters reported.

The order follows a lower court determining that Trump lacked the authority to withhold funding that Congress allocated. The 2nd Circuit on Friday upheld the district court order from Judge Amir Ali finding that Trump needed congressional authority to withhold the funds.

“To be clear, no one disputes that defendants have significant discretion in how to spend the funds at issue, and the court is not directing defendants to make payments to any particular recipients,” the Biden-appointed Ali wrote. “But defendants do not have any discretion as to whether to spend the funds.”

The case will now proceed through the courts and is likely to reach the top bench.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.