USA: Supreme Court stops development aid through the USA

The Supreme Court of the United States has suspended the order of a Federal Court, according to which the government would have been obliged to pay money from development aid. The presiding judge of the Supreme Courts, John Roberts, issued an injunction on Wednesday (local time), with which he exposed the instruction of the Washington district judge Amir Ali. Ali had set a deadline for payment by Wednesday evening 11:59 p.m.

President Donald Trump’s government had called the Supreme Court on it. Roberts did not state a reason for the so -called administrative debt. The Court of Justice asked the plaintiffs to comment until Friday afternoon. Organizations who have concluded contracts with the U.S. Authority for International Development and the Foreign Ministry had complained.

The government had previously stated that it had made the final decision to terminate most contracts and grants as part of US development aid. At the same time, the government underlined that it cannot comply with the deadline ordered by district judge Ali. In an injunction on February 13, Ali ordered that the government had to make payments and set a deadline until Wednesday evening. The government did not comply with this and frozen the funds largely.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said that the government is deleting over 90 percent of the development aid contracts of the US Authority for International Development and a total of over $ 58 billion in US help worldwide. He described the cuts as part of Trump’s “America First” agenda.

Lawyers of the US Ministry of Justice believe that the government has the right to suspend its agreements while checking them to determine whether they are in line with the government’s policy. This review has now been completed, the government said. USAID made the final decision to delete almost 5800 grants, but maintained over 500. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs deleted around 4100 grants and kept around 2700. USAID manages around 60 percent of US development aid and paid $ 43.79 billion in the financial year 2023.