A federal judge ordered federal government officials on Feb. 20 to comply with his earlier order to lift a freeze on nearly all foreign aid, though he stopped short of holding them in contempt of court.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali said administration officials—including those from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Office of Management and Budget, and their agents—had instead “come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension” of funding.
“[T]he Court’s TRO does not permit Defendants to simply continue their blanket suspension of congressionally appropriated foreign aid pending a review of the agreements for whether they should be continued or terminated,” Ali wrote in his order….