Steve Vladeck: Chief Justice Roberts's Administrative Stay in the Foreign Aid Funding Cases

[Nevilledog]

https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/127-chief-justice-robertss-administrative

As I explain in the post that follows, there are two very different ways to understand why Chief Justice Roberts intervened last night—one of which is deeply ominous, and one of which, while understandably frustrating, is also at least institutionally defensible. My own suspicion is that the latter reading is the more likely one. But the key for present purposes is that we’ll all find out soon enough which reading is the correct one.

The Procedural Background

By way of very quick background, at issue here are two of a number of suits that have been brought challenging the Trump administration’s attempts to refuse to spend money that Congress has appropriated—and, in many instances, that the government has already committed to spending. (For more background on the “impoundment” power, see this earlier post.)

These two cases, AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition v. Department of State and Global Health Council v. Trump, both involve the government’s sweeping cut-off of foreign aid spending. The first of the two complaints was filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C. on Monday, February 10, where it was assigned to Judge Amir Ali. (The second complaint was filed on February 11. For the rest of this post, and for ease of narrative, I’m going to treat the two cases as one.)

Here comes the nerdy stuff: On Thursday, February 13, Judge Ali entered a temporary restraining order, purporting to block the categorical suspension of foreign aid spending. Last Wednesday (February 19), the plaintiffs filed a motion to enforce the TRO (and hold the government in civil contempt), arguing that the government had not come remotely close to complying with the February 13 TRO. Judge Ali granted the motion to enforce last Thursday (without holding the government in contempt). This Monday (February 24), the plaintiffs filed a renewed motion to enforce the TRO and for contempt. Judge Ali responded Tuesday with an order specifically requiring the administration to pay all invoices and letter-of-credit drawdown requests for work completed prior to the TRO, as well as reimbursements on grants and assistance agreements, by 11:59 p.m. last night. That order is what touched off the appellate drama.

*snip*

[SheltieLover]

1. Kick

[Moosepoop]

2. Kick

And rec!

[cachukis]

3. Thanks. Important read.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Thank you for posting this

[Nevilledog]

5. ...