A federal judge says President Donald Trump overstepped his authority in freezing almost all spending on U.S. humanitarian and development work abroad. Judge Amir H.

Summary

A federal judge ruled that Trump exceeded his constitutional authority by freezing USAID funding, stating Congress controls spending authority.

Judge Amir Ali ordered Trump officials to pay all of the roughly $2 billion it owed to aid groups and businesses but stopped short of ordering the reviving of the thousands of contracts abruptly terminated for U.S. aid and development work around the world.

Secretary of State Rubio announced the end of a six-week review resulting in elimination of 83% of USAID programs (5,200 of 6,200), with remaining programs transferred to the State Department.

Former USAID Administrator Natsios questioned what programs the administration actually supports, noting cuts to democracy, civil society, health, and emergency response initiatives.

  • IamSparticles@lemmy.zipEnglish
    3·
    24 hours ago

    The United States v Trump ruling was that a president can not be held criminally liable for their exercise of the powers of the presidency.

    But they left it wide open for interpretation of exactly what it means to exercise the powers of the presidency, which was the whole point of the case. No reasonable interpretation would include “encouraging an angry mob to storm the capitol building” but here we are.

    Courts can still rule that a president’s actions are illegal and order injunctions, or even find contempt if court orders are not followed. This has already happened several times in the last month.

    And when I see someone successfully enforce one of those injunctions, court orders, or contempt charges, and it stands against appeal, I will happily agree that the justice system has not been completely kneecapped.

    I really do hope you’re right and I’m blowing this out of proportion. I’m just not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel right now.