DC Circuit grills DOJ over Trump's freeze on billions in foreign aid

Source: Courthouse News Service

July 7, 2025


WASHINGTON (CN) — A D.C. Circuit panel expressed doubt Monday that the Trump administration had the authority to cancel billions in foreign aid assistance as part of its now-completed effort to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development. In the final oral argument session of the appellate court’s 2024 term, the three-judge panel grilled the Justice Department to determine whether funds allocated under Congress’ Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 were mandatory or discretionary.

Justice Department attorney Sean Janda argued that the executive branch has the authority to defer congressionally allocated funds under the Impoundment Control Act and is only required to send the legislative branch a “special message” to start a dialogue to rework distribution.

He added that U.S. District Judge Amir Ali’s emergency orders requiring the government to unfreeze billions of dollars owed to a coalition of nonprofit organizations had interrupted that dialogue. The Joe Biden appointee’s ruling should have been limited to requiring such a message, Janda said.

U.S. Circuit Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee, pressed Janda to explain how the court could accept that position given extensive public statements and court filings indicating the administration had no intention of ever spending the aid dollars. She pointed to Elon Musk’s Feb. 2 post on X calling USAID a “criminal organization” and saying it was “time for it to die,” as well as President Donald Trump’s Feb. 7 Truth Social post explicitly calling for USAID’s closure.

Read more: https://www.courthousenews.com/dc-circuit-grills-doj-over-trumps-freeze-on-billions-in-foreign-aid/