On Wednesday, the Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to the Trump administration by ruling the federal government must pay out $2 billion to contractors with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Why is there always a roadblock preventing those who actually care about our country from implementing their agenda?
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to shoot down the emergency application from the Justice Department that sought to overturn a demand put forth by a district court judge to unfreeze billions of dollars that President Donald Trump had halted by executive order.
Both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett — who is an appointee of Trump’s from his previous term — sided with all three of the liberal justices on the bench.
“Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh wrote a scathing dissent, with Alito saying he was ‘stunned’ by the majority’s decision,” the Daily Wire reported.
“Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars?” Alito went on to ask in the dissenting opinion. “The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned.”
He then said that the majority essentially rewarded “an act of judicial hubris and imposes a $2 billion penalty on American taxpayers.” For supposed conservatives on the bench to side against the American people really doesn’t seem to line up with the ideals and principles upon which our country and Constitution were built on.
The case began when a group of American businesses and nonprofits that receive funds from USAID claimed that Trump’s pause on foreign aid payments was unlawful. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali quickly issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the Trump administration from following through with the funding freeze. As Alito wrote, the lower court based its decision on the belief that the suing parties would succeed in showing that the Trump administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act when issuing the funding freeze. But after issuing the TRO, Alito wrote, “the District Judge grew frustrated with the pace at which funds were being disbursed.” So, less than two weeks after issuing the TRO, Ali issued a second order demanding the federal government pay out about $2 billion, brushing “aside the Government’s argument that sovereign immunity barred this enforcement order,” Alito wrote.
Ali then took two separate actions in order to make sure his order wouldn’t be stopped by higher courts.
“First, he labeled the order as a non-appealable TRO, and second, he demanded that the money be paid within 36 hours,” Alito explained.
These steps meant the Trump administration had little time to prepare an argument against what it saw as a lawless order, Alito said, but moved for a stay pending appeal. But when the administration appealed, the U.S. States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia accepted the lower court’s onerous limitations and denied the appeal, bringing it to the Supreme Court.
“At the last moment, The Chief Justice issued an administrative stay,” Alito said in his opinion. “Unfortunately, a majority has now undone that stay. As a result, the Government must apparently pay the $2 billion posthaste – not because the law requires it, but simply because a District Judge so ordered.”
“As the Nation’s highest court, we have a duty to ensure that the power entrusted to federal judges by the Constitution is not abused,” he added. “Today, the Court fails to carry out that responsibility.”
Shameful that the president is encountering so much opposition to the work he’s trying to do to better the lives of American citizens.
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