The Supreme Court sided against Donald Trump in a 5-4 decision, agreeing with a leftist judge that $2 billion in USAID funds to foreign entities must be distributed. Anything contractually determined before January 20 must be distributed.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three leftists to oppose the administration.
“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. Today, the court fails to carry out that responsibility,” Alito wrote
Four of the court’s conservatives — Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — dissented.
“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? The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned,” Alito wrote, joined by the three others.
So, local district judges can order the government to pay out wasteful funds to foreign entities. Thank you Roberts and Barrett for your lousy decision.
This is a terrible decision. Barrett is a serious disappointment and no Originalist.
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