The Justice Department filed an emergency application at the Supreme Court Wednesday asking to block a midnight deadline for the Trump administration to unfreeze nearly $2 billion in blocked foreign aid payments.
A federal judge set the deadline after the finding the administration had not complied with his previous ruling to restart the flow of foreign aid contracts and grants as litigation continues.
“The court’s 11:59 p.m. 30-some-hour deadline thus moved all the goalposts,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in the motion.
“It is not tailored to any actual payment deadlines associated with respondents’ invoices or drawn-down requests, or anyone else’s. And it has thrown what should be an orderly review by the government into chaos,” she continued.
Harris asked for an immediate ruling blocking the midnight deadline until the court can resolve the motion, insisting that the government can’t feasibly resume the payments by then.
“Worse, this order exposes the government to the risk of contempt proceedings and other sanctions,” Harris wrote.
The Justice Department had filed a similar request with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which denied the appeal minutes after the administration went to the Supreme Court.
Trump has looked to pause all foreign aid payments as part of a broader effort to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), spurring a wave of litigation.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, an appointee of former President Biden, issued a temporary order demanding the administration cease stop-work orders and resume funding for agreements that existed before Trump took office. The ruling came after a coalition of USAID contractors and nonprofits sued.
Ali set the Wednesday night deadline a day earlier after the plaintiffs raised alarm that funds have remained inaccessible, warning they are at risk of laying off workers taking other drastic actions.
The new Supreme Court filing marks the Trump administration’s second emergency appeal to the justices since the inauguration.
The Justice Department has also asked for an emergency order greenlighting Trump’s firing of a government whistleblower office head, but the court so far has refused to oblige by punting on the request.
Updated at 8:21 p.m. EDT
