A U.S. federal appeals court cleared the way Wednesday for the Trump administration’s dismantling of foreign aid, scrapping an earlier order that had forced the State Department to pay out billions of dollars in frozen foreign aid previously approved by Congress.
The 2-1 decision came after months of back-and-forth in Washington, D.C., with a group of nonprofits suing the Trump administration on Feb. 11. The next day, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s biggest contractors followed suit, with DAI, Chemonics, and others filing a case of their own.
The organizations all argued that the government’s foreign aid freeze — which in late January brought international assistance to a halt — was unconstitutional and had resulted in “unlawful actions that are harming and will harm countless individuals and entities.”
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
