Overview

• A divided three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction requiring USAID to resume payments, with Judges Karen Henderson and Gregory Katsas ruling that grantees lack a private cause of action under the Impoundment Control Act.
• The panel held APA review is precluded by the Impoundment Control Act, meaning only the Comptroller General may sue to compel disbursement of appropriated funds.
• The ruling sidestepped whether the administration’s freeze violates Congress’s power of the purse, leaving substantive constitutional separation-of-powers questions open.
• Plaintiffs including the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Journalism Development Network intend to seek en banc reconsideration or appeal to the Supreme Court.
• Payments on completed contracts that U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ordered have been fully satisfied, as the appeals court declined to review that portion of the injunction.