In yet another brief, shadow docket decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed President Trump to unilaterally eliminate $4 billion in foreign aid that Congress had appropriated. A group of plaintiffs sued the government to force the President to release foreign aid funds. A federal district court sided with the plaintiffs and enjoined the President from blocking the funds. The district court reasoned that by refusing to spend the appropriated funds, the President had usurped Congress’s power to spend.
But the Supreme Court held that the government had shown the Impoundment Control Act likely precluded the plaintiffs’ underlying suit. Moreover, the Supreme Court reasoned that the harm caused by the injunction to the President’s ability to conduct foreign affairs outweighed the potential harm faced by the plaintiffs.
