DC Circuit Allows Trump Admin to Withhold Nearly $2B in Foreign Aid

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the Trump administration may continue to withhold nearly $2 billion in foreign aid payments that Congress had previously appropriated, overturning a district court order that had required the money to be released. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the recipients challenging the freeze lacked standing and that the dispute is largely statutory, not a matter for the judiciary to resolve on constitutional grounds. The ruling gives the administration latitude to review and potentially pare back foreign aid programs that Donald Trump has pledged to scrutinize as part of a broader effort to reduce what his supporters describe as wasteful spending.

The majority, led by Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson and joined by Judge Gregory Katsas, held that the plaintiffs—consortia of contractors and advocacy groups that receive aid—failed to show a viable basis for a preliminary injunction. Henderson stated that the grantees “may not bring a freestanding constitutional claim if the underlying alleged violation and claimed authority are statutory,” and she added that the Administrative...