The emergency appeal marks the first time President Donald Trump’s sweeping efforts to reshape the federal government—including deep agency cuts—have reached the Supreme Court. The case is likely to set up a direct clash between the justices and Trump’s broader push to expand executive power.
Roberts’ order does not address the core legal questions in the case. Instead, it grants an “administrative stay,” temporarily pausing the deadline to allow the court time to review written arguments. As the justice overseeing emergency cases from the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., Roberts issued the stay in his official capacity.
The chief justice called for the groups that sued the administration to respond by Friday.
Late Wednesday, just hours before the midnight deadline, the Trump administration rushed to the Supreme Court, urging the justices to intervene immediately. This marks the second time Trump has turned to the high court since taking office last month. Another pending case involves his firing of the leadership at the Office of Special Counsel.
The latest appeal concerns billions of dollars in foreign aid from the State Department and USAID, which Trump froze in January as part of his broader effort to rein in federal spending and align it with his policy goals. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, issued a temporary order requiring the funds to be released while the case was under review.
After the plaintiffs argued that the administration had not sufficiently restored the funding, Ali ordered full payment by Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. ET for all aid that had been processed at the time of his ruling. The Trump administration, however, told the courts that meeting this deadline would take “multiple weeks.”
“The district court’s imminent and arbitrary deadline makes full compliance impossible,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, the administration’s top appellate attorney, told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
In a notable section of the appeal, the administration assured the Supreme Court that it “takes seriously its constitutional duty to comply with the orders” of federal courts. This statement appeared to acknowledge recent backlash against Trump and his allies, who have floated the idea of defying court rulings they oppose or even attempting to impeach judges who issue them.
“The government,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote, “is undertaking substantial efforts to review payment requests and release payments.”
However, the groups that sued have dismissed those explanations, arguing that a small group of political appointees within the administration is “refusing to authorize essentially any payments.”
The administration may face a significant hurdle as the Supreme Court reviews the case more closely. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in rejecting the administration’s request to pause the deadline, ruled that the enforcement order in question was not even subject to appeal.
“Appellants cite no case that has held that such a later issued supporting order is appealable,” the court said in its unanimous ruling.
Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at Georgetown University Law Center, said Roberts’ move isn’t an indication of how the court will treat Trump and the foreign aid freeze overall.
“It’s really just a play for time – in this case, perhaps as little as two days – to give the justices time to sort out whether or not they should pause Judge Ali’s ruling or force the government to turn the challenged foreign aid funding back on while the litigation challenging its suspension continues,” Vladeck said.
