In an interesting 5-4 split, the Supreme Court has denied the Trump Administration’s application for a stay of a district court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Administration’s effort to freeze $2 billion in funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Administration is down by one vote but hardly out in the fight with lower courts over the control of this funding.
However, there is more than meets the eye in this short, unsigned opinion.
Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars? The answer to that question should be an emphatic “No,” but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned.
Alito acknowledged the lower court’s “frustration with the Government” as well as the “serious concerns about nonpayment for completed work.” However, he noted that this is “quite simply, too extreme a response. A federal court has many tools to address a party’s supposed nonfeasance. Self-aggrandizement of its jurisdiction is not one of them.”
The key here is that this was a controversial move to review a TRO, which is generally not reviewable. What is clear is that there are four justices who were still prepared to do so and would obviously be likely to grant review in the next round.
That next round would come after the hearing on the preliminary injunction, which is scheduled for March 6th.
It can then be appealed to these awaiting justices. Only four are needed to grant review, so you do the math.
CJ Roberts has done incredible harm to America. Not least by his Obamacare decisions, which are both travesties. Now this and many others.
Where Reagan erred in appointing Kennedy and Bush I erred by appointing Souter, Bush II likewise erred by appointing Roberts.
It’s always these pseudo conservatives who lack sufficient backbone to withstand the leftward gale force winds of the DC bubble. They inevitably go over to the dark side after a little bit of exposure, never to return. But look at the bright side: they get praised by the lamestream media and at their elite cocktail parties.
Perhaps it is time for Justices Roberts and Barrett to revisit prior SCOTUS decisions on the separation of powers imbedded in the Constitution.
The money in question was aurhorized by Congress, signed into law by the president. The lower court is simply saying, the decision to spend the money has already been lawfully made. What is so hard about that to understand? I konw the 4 low IQ Justices think trump is a king, or a god, or a cult leader, or something other than what the constitution says he is.
Can’t take you serious when you can’t spell the word “Know” correctly.
Declare an economic emergency. Bankruptcy.
I don’t suppose DJT will be signing any budgets in the future.
The Parasites are killing the Host
(USAID is killing America)
(Ukraine is killing America)
(Covert Op Programs are killing America)
(Political Corruption is killing America)
(Unchecked Governmental Spending is killing America)
(Mindless Political Programs are killing America)
(Un-Audited Federal Reserve Bankers are killing America)
(Prime Media is killing America)
(Pharma, Lawyers, Insurance, and Bankers are killing America)
(Members of the International Community are killing America)
What did we get for all this Debt?
National Debt: $42,746,875,834,795 +
https://www.usdebtclock.org/cbo-omb-gop-budget-estimates.html
Total US Debt: $102,306,127,754,395 +
https://www.usdebtclock.org/
It’s the Bull Sh*t Stupid !
We’ll have to see what happens.
This doesn’t seem to be a typical TRO as it affirmatively orders someone to do something.
#9. And as Musk has pointed out, we’ve all just seen what happens when in government someone affirmatively orders someone to do something.
I’m definitely one of the more positive right-wing Anons here, and I approve of their decision. This was ultimately funding for work already completed. How would you feel if you had a contract, got 70% of the way through the work, and were then told you wouldn’t be seeing any of the money from the entire 70% of your work time?
Do I approve of what the money was being spent on? Not necessarily, but I approve of people getting paid for work they do.
I agree. This is for work already completed. This in no way means Trump must keep funding grants for the transing of children in some country most have never heard of.
“… in some country most have never heard of.”
Speak for yourself low IQ trump supporter.
Where were the dubbed sesame street videos sent?
Depends on what that work was. If you’re paying the mob…
If we are going to be paying for work that is already done then I’m sure the proper paperwork is in place with all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed. If it is not then no payment
Where is thr proof that some, any, or all work has been done? Did Judge Ali in the extremely short tim eperiod he placed his order in look at every invoice? This is insane!
It’s very simple. If the work hasn’t been done then the order doesn’t apply to it, so what’s the problem!
The government is not denying that the work was done. It’s simply paused payment.
What recourse does the lower Court have if the Trump administration simply declines to make payments, in spite of its decision? I suspect it might be able to hold the head of whatever agency is directly responsible for those payments in contempt, but is there anything punitive it could do beyond that? If not, I would advocate for just that course of action: continue to withhold payment; continue to pursue the appeal through the court system.
What is fair about withholding payment for work already done?
Provide evidence for your assertion that the work for the payments in dispute has been completed. My bet is that you have nothing.
The order ONLY APPLIES to “those owed for work already completed before the issuance of the District Court’s temporary restraining order” on February 13.
Once again, lower courts have stymied the Executive Branch of government while it was exercising the will of the American People as expressed by the electorate in a referendum election. And to have the Supreme Court validate this travesty is horrific! This country is about done with its will being neutralized by non-elected activist judges who rule as though they are despots. The anger is building. It’s going to manifest one day in a most dangerous way.
“to have the Supreme Court validate this travesty is horrific!”
According to my read of Professor Turley’s column, SCOTUS did no such thing. What they did was decline to take what he called a highly unusual action of reviewing a Temporary Restraining Order. Turley seems to think that at least the minimum required four justices will certify the case for SCOTUS review after March 6. I wouldn’t venture to predict how the justices would vote on the case after that. Given that Turley himself expressed no opinion on that subject, I would appear to be in very good company.
Number 6 – I agree. The real decision will come later and probably will be of much more substance. I don’t like the money being paid out but better to stick with proper procedure than appear to show favoritism and do things in a hasty manner and give the democrats ammunition in the future.
As far as having work being done and having to pay promptly. That is something that is contested in projects all the time. Usually resulting in a bill being sent, a response saying the work is not finished or was done is an incomplete manner or was shoddy. That is then is followed by “see you in court” and then additional lawsuits filed.
It would be nice if bills were presented and promptly paid.. I can tell you that in many professions the sending of a bill is only the first step in a long, drawn out process before you get paid. In the medical profession it is a common enough event to have to wrangle over a bill that was sent and then goes unpaid for 30-60-90-120 days or more. No explanation just not paid. This was common even 40 + years ago when medical bills were for more reasonable than now. Deal with a major state university sometime who was supposed to pay their premiums for their employees to an HMO within 30 days of when due but would delay 3-4 months or until the HMO threatened to stop treating the University’s employees. Then later we discovered they treated all contractors both in construction and services the same way. It’s great having a major university in your town until you send them a bill.
only if we can validate work was actually done. We are finding much of this to be slush funds for politicians
Submitting a falsified billing statement funded by taxpayer monies can be multiple felonies. If it’s knowingly false it’s fraud, if it’s electronically transmitted it is wire fraud, if it’s sent via US Mail, it’s mail fraud…
Go for it!
Dear Mr. Turley, Old “Gigi” is on a roll today! First it was Mr. Trump is a “Pig” and now she is calling him a “big, fat slob”. Will she ever get out of kindergarten? That is where children learn name calling is wrong. I am sorry “Gigi” did not learn this lesson. I would take her thoughts into consideration, but with her constant name calling, I am “turned off”. Name calling on her part proves her arguments are silly and without merit.
FAFO. Do the courts imagine that this administration is unaware of the President Jackson approach to issues like this?
The big psychedelic dreams of district court judges may turn into nightmares.
When a court orders the government to waste billions of dollars on insanely stupid projects whom do they think the public will side with in a collision between the executive and the judiciary?
Biden and the Democrats and Jacobin judges have already made a mockery of ‘the rule of law’.
They should have remembered More’s warning in A Man For All Seasons.
But they didn’t.
FAFO
Meanwhile, impeach district judges by the bushell.
The President does not have the authority to decline to spend allocated funds. The fact that this was not 9-0 is highly disturbing. Every grant was vetted and approved using the proper procedures.
Read the Constitution, Fraude.
Executive power is vested exclusively in the President; executive power is not vested in any other person, officer, or entity.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Article 2, Section 1
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
The president cannot cancel an appropriation of funds or reprogram them without Congressional approval. Unless the appropriated funds are congressionally directed for a specific contractor, the appropriated funds do not need to be committed or obligated. It is disturbing that the decision was not 9-0 in Trump’s favor.
Congress has the legislative power.
The President has the executive power.
Any and all legislation that usurps the executive power of the President is unconstitutional.
“The President does not have the authority to decline to spend allocated funds.”
He is spending those funds — on reducing the debt.
Before you claim that a president cannot *reallocate* funds: That is precisely what Bush Jr. and Obama did with TARP funds.
Every grant was vetted and approved using the proper procedures.
And you know that how?
“We have sitting members of Congress on the boards of the NGO’s that they are voting to fund.” Check out this video.
https://x.com/DefiantLs/status/1895124294629212335
Franke, Vetted and approved by a bureaucracy is not the same as a by line item approval of the specific funding that is more specifically earmarked to be spent by Congress. It is well known that these agencies do not do line item breakdowns for there planned spending for the FY and typically submit very high level boiler plate statements with a price tag tied to it when an appropriations request goes before Congress. What you are saying is at this point, is that the chief elected executive does in fact have no oversight or authority to intervene in the spending activities of agency personnel that are his subordinates within the executive branch—in this case, spending that has not been specifically earmarked by Congress—which by the way, if this were the case, that would be a different story, because there is substantial legal precedent that backs that position up.
The President has a duty to faithfully execute the laws passed by Congress. By cancelling grants, firing people, zeroing out budgets, and illegally closing agencies, Trump is doing the opposite of faithfully executing the laws passed by Congress.
Franke, that is a completely wrong read here (constitutionally and based on legal precedent) as I responded to your earlier post above. The President is not the handmaid to Congress or rubber stamp, he serves as a check and balance in our system of government. AGAIN, it is APPLICABLE here if the line item appropriation was SPECIFICALLY approved as earmarked for its specific end use so approved by appropriations. So your latest response as regards to firing people means that the head of the executive branch should have zero input as to who should even staff the executive branch? Quite frankly, you are coming across (as I have observed from previous posts you have made on other Turley articles) as an individual brainwashed by the Regime media who just likes to troll Turley and everyone else on this site. What’s the matter, regime media just not edgy enough for you with all their censorship? Insults aside, intellectual honesty would be appreciated if you can site specific legal precedent and clause in the Constitution that bars the president from doing all the things you detail above, which essentially is his entire job. Finally, to test you on whether you are a partisan troll, where were you in the ‘outrage’ over executive overreach when Joe Biden had raided a portion of Medicare funding to fund a green energy project or he completely bypassed Congress and Ignored the Supreme Court when he unilaterally proceeded to forgive student debt. Or finally, how Saint Barack Obama soiled Constitutional tradition and started a new trend of signing treaties with foreign entities unilaterally and refusing to submit to the US Senate for approval (Climate Change/Paris Agreement 2015). If you say you were outraged when things like that occurred much like you seem to be now with DJT, I will believe you, if you make excuses that “it is not the same thing” then you will confirm my contention that you are an individual brainwashed by regime media that enjoys trolling the owner/author of this site and commenters because the regime media is not edgy enough for you due to all their content suppression, censorship, etc.
Franke posted: The President has a duty to faithfully execute the laws passed by Congress.
REALLY!!!!!
Franke, does that include existing immigration laws? Or do you carve out a special Democrat exemption for Bolshevik Barack and Bribery Biden as you watched them import – at taxpayer expense – 20+ MILLION Illegal Alien Guest Democrat Voters? You give Obama and Biden a pass because they’re Democrat Different Double standards?
How about repeatedly sending your Attorney Generals and FBI Directors to FISA courts with instructions to perjure themselves and utter false documents to FISA courts to get illegal counterespionage spying warrants?
Franke, mostly what you do here is demonstrate how Democrats are a poison and cancer that has spread through American society.
This is not a surprise, and it’s likely good in the long run.
I think the administration fully expected to be challenged in court over some if not many of their actions in the hopes of setting precedent. We are now over the initial euphoria and dealing with nuts and bolts, this was bound to be the case. We have to hold the line. The nuts and bolts matter a great deal for the future.
#9. Musk strikes again!
Ah the humanity of it all. Now, we see the full extent of the plan as it evolves. Two Hundred poor innocent and hard working citizens fighting to re-educate the public about the dangers of believing the truth.
See what telling the truth can cause? Now the Nation’s treasury of propaganda artists are going to be completely destitute and forced to look for work in Venezuela.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-abc-news-layoffs-538-shut-down-1236155190/
“Now the Nation’s treasury of propaganda artists are going to be completely destitute and forced to look for work in Venezuela.”
If they fail to find jobs there in their usual line of work, they could probably survive by switching to a closely related profession, and giving fellatio to departed Tren de Aragua members.
deported
They could take The Oval Office House Plant’s career advice:
LEARN TO CODE.
The decision makes sense to me, though had it been 5-4 the other way, I’d see no problem either.
As I understand it, now the district court has been directed to get specific with the administration and detail their objections.
I look forward to that.
Fight, fight, fight. Trump doesn’t quite. He’ll figure out a way to accomplish his objective. Last night the democrats look like a bunch of losers. When it comes to being crafty, President Trump is in a class by himself.
They are trying to place this under law applicability and not where it belongs under the constitution applicability. Because they know outright that it’s unconstitutional on its face for a judge created via statute to think they can order the executive around in such a disrespectful manner. Even if he was respectful he would still be overreaching.
Ive heard time and time again, separate but “equal” however the lower courts judges are created via laws written by congress not via the constitution itself as is SCOTUS and it’s equal branches. A lower court is not equal to the executive branch in what he was ruling on.
Article III, section 1, in relevant part:
The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.
That which can be established, may be destablished. It seems the nuclear option is not impeachments or a Jacksonian snub — it is congress eliminating circuits, maybe establishing something new in their stead with new judges.
Article III, Section I: The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.
Chief Justice John Marshall’s famous statement in the 1803 case Marbury v. Madison wrote, “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” This established the principle of judicial review, giving courts the authority to interpret the Constitution and invalidate laws that conflict with it. That includes judicial review of executive orders of the president.
The quickest way to a constitutional crisis and another attempt at impeachment would be to defy the federal courts.
I am dismayed that the Judicial Branch is now in full control of the Executive Branch! Emboldened District Court Judges now control our money! At the rate of Bench minute orders against the Executive Branch is mind blowing and the destruction of the Constitutional Republic. This is exactly how the Venezuelan Courts took over the Government.
Agreed
Other than the courts, what would be your recommended response to the EB illegally withholding funds?
Try and enforce it…as the Great Andrew Jackson previously stated.
Spoken like a true fascist.
Spoken like a true communist!
Franke, spoken like the true Bolshevik Bytch On A Broomstick that you are.
Who concluded that they were “illegally” held? The trial court didn’t even reach that conclusion.
Deeply disappointed in ACB. Robertson has been a lost cause from the beginning. I’d like to see Trump appoint a new Chief Justice, either Alito or Thomas. That would put an end to this bullschiff.
Would love it to be Justice Thomas.
So when will Roberts leave? No President has the authority to do that, not even Trump
I don’t know. It was simply a fond desire.
Amy Coney Barrett Seems compromised or she did a good job acting at her confirmation. USAID is full of billions if not trillions of dollars worth of idiotic waste. They are not cutting honest aid, but the title is very deceptive. Agency for International Development was purposeful to deceive. Most of that money lines the pockets of the elite, the Deep State etc.
“I’d like to see Trump appoint a new Chief Justice”
I’d very much like to see Thomas in the Chief Justice role myself. IANAL, but I looked into what it would take to replace Roberts as CJ a few months ago, and it did not appear that there was any clear-cut (let alone Constitutionally ordained) process to do that. I suspect that if Trump so ordered, the Court would consider that to be a request that it had the power to grant or deny, and that could set up all kinds of infighting among the Justices. If that happened, I’m not certain that would be beneficial to other rulings in the meantime.
I’ve seen a photo of Roberts relaxing in the water at Epstein’s island. I wonder if he is being protected by the DOJ or if he is told what he will do by the people who control him. Just sayin…
“I’ve seen a photo of Roberts relaxing in the water at Epstein’s island. ”
Where did you see this photo? On-line? Have a link?
No, you haven’t. You are referring to a photo circulated by some random nut case like you. (1) Roberts is not in the photo at all. (2) It was not taken at Epstein’s island, or anywhere near it.
The Chief Justice cannot be replaced. He was duly appointed with the senate’s consent, and has tenure until he dies or retires. There is nothing Trump can do about it.
But why would you want to replace him anyway? He only has one vote, the same as any other justice. In this case five justices were of one opinion and four of another. The fact that Roberts is chief justice had no bearing on the outcome.
Gee, Turley, do you actually WANT starving children to die and others die who need medicine approved and paid for by Congress? Your hyper-partisan take on this Order is pathetic. It’s all just a game. The money had been appropriated, the goods were purchased, and are sitting in warehouses or on a dock somewhere, when the fat slob decreed that humanitarian relief should immediately stop. The peanut paste that is high in protein and saves lives comes from the USA. You are paid to be a cheerleader for the worst POTUS in US history–a convicted felon and chronic habitual liar–but, come on. Tell us, did the big, fat slob campaign on shutting down USAID, or cutting FAA employees, or VA employees–how about NOAA? The slob claimed that he’s going to force federal workers to go to an office–what about those who work for the US Geological Survey, NOAA or others who work in the field?
Who’s stopping you from taking care of these “starving children”?
Awww some simp automatically believes its “humanitarian aid” without actual receipts 🤣
Yes our hearts are broken that such life sustaining charitable funding raised from small dollar donations by the leftist party from each and every American’s tax payment has been halted.
Big crocodile tears…
$1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities”
$70,000 for production of a “DEI musical” in Ireland
$2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam
$47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia
$32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru
$2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala
$6 million to fund tourism in Egypt
Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a non-profit linked to designated terrorist organizations — even AFTER an inspector general launched an investigation
Millions to EcoHealth Alliance — which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab
“Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria”
Funding to print “personalized” contraceptives birth control devices in developing countries
Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban
You might not like those (and some you are not quoting correctly) but they were all properly approved.
Congress did not sit down and start approving these projects. What they approved was a pot of money to the USAID. USAID decided on how it would be laundered.
And if this is true, there are members of Congress sitting on the boards of the NGO’s that USAID is laundering money to.
https://x.com/DefiantLs/status/1895124294629212335
How do you know this? What does properly approved mean? Can they be properly disappoved? The money isn’t going anywhere BTW. You can’t TRO your way to a civil judgment. If these foreign contractors are owed money, let them sue to recover it.
and now they are properly disapproved!🤣🤣🤡🤡
And yes, he did campaign on those things you dolt! That’s how far and deep this corruption/deep state is
So Gigi are you prepared to guarantee that the billions is going to people or alerting dictator to pocket or sell off the goods?
“what about those who work for the US Geological Survey, NOAA or others who work in the field?”
They’ll have to move their desks to the field, duh…
Pure virtue signaling and TDS.
Yes, he did campaign on cutting fraud, waste and abuse in the government. That is exactly what the majority of Americans voted for. And Musk and DOGE were part of that package along with all of the other Trump cabinet and nominees. That is what we voted for. That is what we want. Trump is making good on his campaign promises.
Our system of government has no provision that says whatever a candidate campaigning becomes legal to do if elected.
Trolling the good professor’s blog again on a government computer? On taxpayer paid time? Did you come up with five things you have done this week related to your job?
So to you accurately saying how our country works is “trolling”?
You are not working. You are trolling. On government computer. Government provided network. Taxpayer paid time.
Yeah, we’ve been there and done that with Obama.
He sure did. Guess you were either not listening or too busy buying the load of bullsh*t Harris was selling you. President Trump told us up front he was getting rid of all this waste, fraud and abuse. So there you have it.
You feed them then you twisted bleeding heart moron
Do you line paging for Chelsea Clinton’s mansion and her wedding? Approx 17 million was given ti her instead of the USAID to Haiti via the Clinton Foundation. do you like going for sexual reassignment surgeries in Guatemala? If you do you are a chump!
Completely ignorant and uninformed. Go watch MSNBC.
No Mr. Bond, I want you to die…
Dr. No
That would be the starving children who don’t die on the journey to illegally enter America that Obama and then Biden extended an invitation to.
Gigi… do a little overtime at your old job giving five dollar blow jobs behind bars, and you too can sign up with a relief agency to kick in a few dollars each month to feed starving children.
You could make a bit more, but no man with a pulse is going to tie a plank across his ass to prevent falling in to jump your skanky syphilitic ass while wearing a hazmat suit.