The News
The US Supreme Court denied a Trump administration request to keep frozen almost $2 billion in foreign aid funding after a lower court ordered the money be released.
The order left major questions unanswered, including when the money should be released, and said lower courts should clarify “what obligations the government must fulfil” — enabling the administration to continue challenging the case.
The court’s decision, on a 5-4 vote, drew strong dissent from four conservative justices, who argued that the District Court in DC did not have the jurisdiction for its decision.
The ruling was “extremely modest,” CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladeck said: It “does not actually require the Trump administration to immediately make up to $2 billion in foreign aid payments; it merely clears the way for the district court to compel those payments.”