Chief Justice John Roberts is letting the Trump administration withhold $4 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid funds. The chief justice’s temporary move in the administration’s favor follows his similar action Monday, when he let Trump’s firing of a Federal Trade Commission member take effect.
After losing in the lower courts, the administration appealed to Roberts, who handles emergency appeals from Washington courts, seeking immediate relief from an order to pay certain congressionally appropriated funds. Plaintiffs opposed such instant relief, writing that the administration was only being ordered to comply with the law, and that granting even temporary relief (as Roberts did Tuesday) could moot the issue in the administration’s favor and “result in the impoundment of billions of dollars in funds.”
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