Supreme Court Hands Trump Major Victory In Foreign Aid Fight
Supreme Court Hands Trump Major Victory In Foreign Aid Fight
The U.S. Supreme Court will allow the federal government to freeze more than $4 billion in foreign aid payments that President Trump tried to cancel last month using a rare “pocket rescission.”
The justices voted 6-3 to grant the Trump administration’s emergency appeal, which stopped a lower court’s order to release the funds that had already been set aside.
A spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget said, “This is a huge win for restoring the President’s power to carry out his policies. Left-wing groups can no longer take over the president’s agenda.”
Most of the justices agreed that “the harms to the Executive’s conduct of foreign affairs appear to outweigh the potential harm faced by respondents.” The Post said that the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, Journalism Development Network, Center for Victims of Torture, and Global Health Council are some of them.
The Supreme Court’s decision didn’t answer the bigger question of whether President Trump has the power to “impound” money that Congress has approved on his own.
Trump recently told House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that he was going to cancel more than $4 billion in foreign aid. This included $3.2 billion in programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), $322 million from the joint USAID–State Department Democracy Fund, and $521 million in State Department contributions to international organizations.
The request, called a “pocket rescission,” was sent to Congress so close to the end of the fiscal year on September 30 that it would automatically go into effect, no matter what Congress did.
It is the first time in almost fifty years that a president has done this.
The funding in question had been designated for nonprofit organizations currently suing the Trump administration, as well as for foreign governments.
A U.S. District Judge named Amit Mehta Ali, who was appointed by Biden, said earlier this month that the administration could not keep the money without Congress’s approval of the proposal to cancel it.
Ali wrote, “So far, Congress has not responded to the President’s proposal to rescind the funds.” “And the [Impoundment Control Act] makes it clear that it is congressional action, not the President sending a special message, that ends the previous appropriations.”
The nonprofit groups that are fighting the Trump administration’s funding freeze said that the pocket rescission broke federal law and put important, life-saving programs abroad at risk.
Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed with the majority ruling on Friday.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on Monday that will decide whether President Donald Trump can fire members of the Federal Trade Commission without cause. This case could change the definition of presidential power and the independence of federal agencies.
The justices said in a short order that Trump could fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter while the case is still going on. The stay that lets her go will stay in place until the court makes a decision, which is set for December.
The case asks if laws that protect FTC commissioners from being fired violate the separation of powers and if the court’s 1935 decision to uphold those protections should be changed. It will also look into whether lower federal courts can stop removals, like they did when Trump fired Democratic appointees.
Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who are on the left side of the high court, disagreed. Kagan wrote that the order effectively gives the president “full control” over independent agencies that Congress wanted to keep out of politics.
“He can now fire any member he wants, for any reason or no reason at all,” says the majority, even though Congress said otherwise. She wrote, “And he may do this to end the agencies’ independence and bipartisanship.”
Ilhan Omar Clinches Fourth Term In Minnesota
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Oma has won Minnesota’s 5th District, staving off a challenge from Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi, a former journalist, to earn a fourth term on Capitol Hill.
As a member of the socialist “Squad,” Omar is one of the most well-known and controversial liberal lawmakers in the Capitol. She often gets into arguments with peers from both parties over the touchy issue of relations between Israel and Palestine.
People who don’t like Omar’s harsh comments about Israel’s human rights record have called her antisemitic. Her vile comments led to House Republicans voting to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The debate over this issue has grown stronger since Hamas’s attacks on Israel last year. Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi Muslim who supports Israel, made it a core part of her campaign, saying that Omar was dividing people in the diverse 5th District and spreading hate against American Jews.
After the murder of unarmed Black man George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, there has been a lot of heated conversation about how to change the police force. After the tragedy, Omar became a strong voice for liberals who want to change local police departments by, for example, cutting their budgets and giving the money to other community projects.
Al-Aqidi took issue with that and accused Omar of being dishonest when she called for cutting funding to the police but used campaign money to pay for her own safety.
Democrats did not have a lot of news to celebrate on Tuesday.
Former President Donald Trump easily defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race.
Republicans not only maintained control of the U.S. House, they also flipped the Senate.
For the first time in years, Republicans now have total control in Washington.
Trump said “God spared [his] life for a reason” during his victory speech at Trump Headquarters early Wednesday morning.
Trump, who has been the target of two assassination attempts since July, shared his appreciation for a second presidency during his 25-minute speech from West Palm Beach, Florida.
“This is a magnificent victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again. And in addition to having won the battleground states of North Carolina — I love these places — Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, we are now winning in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and Alaska, which would result in us carrying at least 315 electoral votes. But it’s much easier doing what the networks did, or whoever called it, because there was no other path. There was no other path to victory. We also have won the popular vote. That was great. That was great,” Trump said as the crowd cheered and chanted “USA! USA!”
“Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason, and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness,” Trump said. “And now we are going to fulfill that mission together.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much. Winning the popular vote was very nice, I will tell you. It’s a great feeling of love. We have a great feeling of love in this very large room, with unbelievable people standing by my side. These people have been incredible. They have made the journey with me and we are going to make you very happy. We will make you very proud of your vote,” he said.
“I hope that you’re going to be looking back someday and say, ‘That was one of the truly important moments of my life, when I voted for this group of people, beyond the president. This group of great people.’ America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate. We have taken back control of the Senate. Wow, that’s great,” Trump declared.
He continued: “The task before us will not be easy, but I will bring every ounce of energy, spirit, and fighting that I have in my soul to the job that you’ve entrusted to me.”
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“We are going to fix our borders, we are going to fix everything about our country. We made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is going to be just that. We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible, and it’s now clear that we have achieved the most incredible political — look what happened. Is this crazy?” Trump declared.
“But it’s a political victory that our country has never seen before. Nothing like this. I want to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th president, and your 45th president,” he said.
