Supreme Court punts on frozen USAID funding

The Supreme Court dealt Donald Trump a loss in regard to the freezing of the nearly $2 billion USAID funding... or was it?

All of a sudden, Justice Amy Coney Barrett has a target on her head, but I think people are jumping the gun a little bit here.

The Ruling

The ruling came down 5-4, with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Barrett siding with the liberal members of the court. As I have stated before, when Johnson crosses, he usually brings a Trump justice with him, and it is usually Barrett.

The key to the ruling was that the initial deadline from the lower courts had passed, which was noted in the majority decision, which stated, "Given that the deadline in the challenged order has now passed, and in light of the ongoing preliminary injunction proceedings, the District Court should clarify what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order, with due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines.”

Point being, this was not a complete and total loss for the Trump administration, just the court sending the case back to the lower courts to re-establish the ruling.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, the presiding judge in the lower court case, then ruled both parties to report to court on Thursday to consider a repayment schedule. Once that plays out, the Trump administration can appeal the final decision.

Conservative Justices Stunned

The dissent of the majority opinion was written by Justice Alito, who seemed in utter shock that the case was not being addressed by the court now.

Alito wrote, "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."

The dissent continued, "The District Court has made plain its frustration with the Government, and respondents raise serious concerns about nonpayment for completed work. But the relief ordered is, quite simply, too extreme a response."

Keep in mind that some of the money was for services already rendered, so that money is due to vendors. Even so, the majority decision will actually allow Trump to delay payments further because after they hash out a repayment schedule, this case is likely headed right back to the Supreme Court.

She’s Problem

Social media was blowing up against Justice Barrett, especially when a snippet of the joint session address was posted. People were focusing on the way Barrett looked at Trump, but they seemed to ignore that Kavanaugh had a similar look on his face…

Justice Amy Coney Barrett couldn't even hide her total contempt for Trump for 2 seconds pic.twitter.com/8eN8qrfFVv

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 5, 2025

Trump ally Laura Loomer called her a DEI appointee, but would that not be a shot against Trump as well for having nominated her? Michael Cernovich also ripped her, stating, “She is evil, chosen solely because she checked identity politics boxes. Another DEI hire. It always ends badly.” Again, Trump is the one that nominated her, so by calling her a DEI hire, they are basically saying Trump caved to the woke by appointing her.

I think everyone needs to take a breath and just allow all this to play out. Barrett clearly leans on Justice Roberts for leadership, and Trump and Roberts still seem to have a good relationship, with Trump thanking Roberts for swearing him in during the inauguration.

I will be the first to admit that I don’t always agree with Barrett’s decisions, but I have also stated numerous times that because of this, I think we have the most balanced court we have had in modern history. I believe they get it right more often than wrong, even if I don’t always like the call. More importantly, this case is far from over, as I noted when Roberts initially allowed the freeze of the payments to remain in place. This is just one battle in a long war, so take a breath, and let’s let this play out before they decide to try to ruin Barrett.