00:00A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the administration of U.S. President Donald
00:04Trump on Wednesday, upholding a lower court's decision that the government cannot withhold
00:09payment to foreign aid organizations for work they've already performed.
00:13The legal setback comes as the Republican president moves to pull the plug on American
00:16humanitarian projects around the world.
00:19Pursuing what he has called a quote, America First agenda, Trump ordered a 90-day pause
00:24on all foreign aid in his first day back in office.
00:27That order, and ensuing stop work orders halting U.S. Agency for International Development
00:31operations around the world, have jeopardized delivery of life-saving food and medical aid,
00:36throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos.
00:39Aid organizations accused Trump in lawsuits of exceeding his authority under federal law
00:43by stepping into an area that's a matter for Congress.
00:46Here's New York University law professor Peter Shane.
00:49Departments, agencies, offices get set up through congressional authority.
00:55Either Congress writes the organization plan or it can give power to the president to set
01:01some things up.
01:02The president can set things up within what's called the executive office of the president.
01:08But USAID was created by statute, Consumer Finance Protection Bureau created by statute,
01:14Department of Education created by statute.
01:17Those statutes cannot be effectively repealed by executive action.
01:23A Washington-based U.S. district judge last month ordered the administration release approximately
01:27$2 billion in funding to contractors and grant recipients.
01:31Trump appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
01:33His solicitor general wrote in a filing that the lower court order should be blocked, saying
01:37would quote, unlawfully commandeer federal payment processes.
01:41But Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Amy Coney Barrett joined the
01:44court's three liberal members in rejecting the Trump administration's appeal.
01:48Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh
01:52dissented from the decision.
01:54The court did not provide a rationale for its unsigned order on Wednesday.
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