Chief Justice Roberts keeps in place Trump funding freeze that threatens
billions in foreign aid
[September 10, 2025]
By MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily kept
in place the Trump administration's decision to freeze nearly $5 billion
in foreign aid.
Roberts acted on the administration's emergency appeal to the Supreme
Court in a case involving billions of dollars in congressionally
approved aid. President Donald Trump said last month that he would not
spend the money, invoking disputed authority that was last used by a
president roughly 50 years ago.
The high court order is temporary, though it suggests that the justices
will reverse a lower court ruling that withholding the funding was
likely illegal. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled last week that
Congress would have to approve the decision to withhold the funding.
The Supreme Court case will continue unfolding, and Roberts asked the
plaintiffs to respond to the Trump administration's appeal on Friday.
Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in a letter on Aug. 28
that he would not spend $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign
aid, effectively cutting the budget without going through the
legislative branch.
He used what’s known as a pocket rescission. That’s when a president
submits a request to Congress toward the end of a current budget year to
not spend the approved money. The late notice means Congress cannot act
on the request in the required 45-day window and the money goes unspent.
The Trump administration has made deep reductions to foreign aid one of
its hallmark policies, despite the relatively meager savings relative to
the deficit and possible damage to America’s reputation abroad as
foreign populations lose access to food supplies and development
programs. The administration turned to the high court after a panel of
federal appellate judges declined to block Ali’s ruling.
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John Roberts, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, speaks during
lecture to the Georgetown Law School graduating class of 2025, in
Washington, May 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge last month that
another $6.5 billion in aid that had been subject to the freeze
would be spent before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The case has been winding its way through the courts for months, and
Ali said he understood that his ruling would not be the last word on
the matter.
“This case raises questions of immense legal and practical
importance, including whether there is any avenue to test the
executive branch’s decision not to spend congressionally
appropriated funds,” he wrote.
In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit threw out an earlier injunction Ali had issued to require
that the money be spent. But the three-judge panel did not shut down
the lawsuit.
After Trump issued his rescission notice, the plaintiffs returned to
Ali’s court and the judge issued the order that’s now being
challenged.
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