A US federal judge has ordered President Donald Trumpʼs administration to restore funding to hundreds of foreign contractors who lost money and jobs due to a 90-day suspension of all foreign aid programs.
This is reported by Politico.
Judge Amir Ali of the District of Columbia said the White House had failed to explain the extraordinary and widespread harm caused by the complete cessation of foreign aid.
Amir Ali has barred Trumpʼs top State Department and budget aides, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Director of Management and Budget Russell Vote, from implementing any orders to cancel contracts or stop work that went into effect after Trumpʼs inauguration. At a minimum, the judgeʼs order will remain in effect while the lawsuit is ongoing.
A federal judgeʼs ruling effectively halts a major innovation among Donald Trumpʼs executive orders. The judge concluded that the Trump administration acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" by abruptly ending all foreign aid and failing to consider the consequences for companies that relied on such aid.
Lawyers for contract and grant recipients say the funding freeze is hurting not only foreign organizations but also American companies that work with foreign partners. Most of them are forced to lay off people, many of whom may not survive the 90-day aid freeze.
Judge Amir Ali agreed that the harm from the aid freeze, as well as the possible violation of laws due to the governmentʼs "arbitrary and baseless" decisions, were sufficient grounds to lift these restrictions.
The Justice Department argued that because the decision was made by presidential order, courts had no right to review it. The judge rejected this argument, noting that it would allow the authorities to circumvent judicial review.
This is the second court ruling to block Trumpʼs attempts to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development ( USAID
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.