Supreme Court rules Trump can withhold $4B in foreign aid

The Supreme Court allowed the government Friday to freeze more than $4 billion in foreign aid payments that President Trump moved to cancel in a rare “pocket rescission” last month. In a 6-3 ruling, the high court granted the Trump administration’s emergency request to block a federal judge’s Sept.3 ruling that required the funds previously appropriated by Congress to be dispersed. “This is a massive victory in restoring the President’s authority to implement his policies,” a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget told The Post.

“Left-wing groups’ ability to seize control of the president’s agenda has been shut down.”The majority of the justices found the “harms to the Executive’s conduct of foreign affairs appear to outweigh the potential harm faced by respondents,” which include the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, Journalism Development Network, Center for Victims of Torture and the Global Health Council. The Supreme Court’s decision did not address the broader question of Trump’s power to unilaterally “impound” funding approved by Congress. It followed an emergency order issued by Chief Justice John Roberts earlier this month that temporarily and partially stayed Washington, DC-based District Judge Amir Ali’s order for foreign aid spending “subject to the President’s August 28, 2025 recission [sic] proposal currently pending before Congress.” Trump notified House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last month of his request to cancel more than $4 billion in foreign aid spending, including $3.2 billion in United States Agency for International Development (USAID) development assistance, $322 million from the USAID-State Department Democracy Fund and $521 million in State Department contributions to international organizations. The request, known as a pocket rescission, was presented to Congress so late in the fiscal year — which ends Sept.30 — that it would take effect regardless of whethe...