Overview

• The justices blocked U.S. District Judge Amir Ali’s injunction that required obligating roughly $4 billion in aid before the Sept. 30 fiscal deadline.
• Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, warning the funds may never reach intended recipients once the appropriations expire.
• The dispute follows President Trump’s Aug. 28 pocket rescission seeking to claw back $4.9 billion in approved aid, a tactic the Government Accountability Office has said is illegal.
• The targeted money includes funding for overseas development, United Nations peacekeeping and democracy-promotion programs, while the Justice Department said another $6.5 billion previously frozen would be spent by Sept. 30.
• The order is interim and not a ruling on the merits, leaving unresolved separation-of-powers and statutory questions as the case continues in the D.C. Circuit and at the Supreme Court.