Supreme Court Pauses Lower Court’s Ordering of Trump Admin to Pay $2B in Foreign Aid

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, paused a lower court’s order that would have made the Trump administration pay out $2 billion in foreign aid funds by midnight Wednesday.

The Details: The funds would have been due to State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) contractors for work completed before February 13. Roberts acted alone in response to a request from the Trump administration to put the order on hold. State Department and USAID contractors have until noon Friday to respond.

For Context: As part of its government efficiency initiative, the Trump administration has enacted a pause and review of USAID funding. On Wednesday, The Associated Press (Left bias) reported the administration said it is eliminating over 90% of the USAID’s foreign aid contracts. Some have argued that cutting USAID’s foreign funding will be detrimental to humanitarian efforts and opposition media organizations abroad, while others have criticized the organization as a guise for regime change efforts. Read AllSides' tracking of Trump's federal cuts here.

How The Media Covered It: CBS News (Lean Left) explicitly noted that Roberts “acted alone” in making the decision to pause the order. Fox News (Right) wrote that President Trump and government efficiency lead Elon Musk “say USAID projects advance a liberal agenda and are a waste of money.” Outlets across the spectrum noted AP’s Wednesday report.