Supreme Court allows pause to payments on already completed foreign aid work, for now

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Chief Justice John Roberts granted the Trump administration’s request late Feb. 26 to pause a lower court’s midnight deadline for the government to resume more than $1.5 billion in foreign aid payments for already completed aid work that have been suspended for several weeks, a pause impacting some Catholic entities.

The brief administrative order did not address any of the underlying legal issues in the case. It will, however, allow the Supreme Court time to conduct a review.

U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali in Washington previously gave the Trump administration until 11:59 p.m. that day to meet its contractual obligations and fulfill payments to organizations under stop work orders that had been carrying out U.S. foreign aid work around the globe. But lawyers for the Trump administration argued that the judge exceeded his judicial authority in doing so.

Roberts gave the aid organizations challenging the pause a deadline of noon on Feb. 28 to respond.

Shortly after his second inauguration, Trump issued a wide-ranging pause on foreign aid. Within weeks, his administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, the government’s humanitarian aid agency in countries worldwide.

Rollbacks to USAID have already impacted the work of Catholic Relief Services, the overseas relief and development arm of the Catholic Church in the U.S., and other faith-based entities around the globe that have partnered with USAID in their work abroad.

Earlier the same day, the Trump administration said in a memo obtained by The Associated Press it will eliminate more than 90 percent of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world.

OSV News previously reported USAID’s top NGO recipient for fiscal years 2013-2022 was CRS at $4.6 billion. The nonprofit is dedicated to assisting the poor and vulnerable in foreign countries in coordination with local Catholic agencies.

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