A federal appeals court ruled on Aug. 13 that the Trump administration may cut billions of dollars in foreign aid funds that Congress previously approved.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned by 2–1 a ruling by a federal district judge who held President Donald Trump was violating the separation of powers by impounding, or failing to pay out, monies appropriated by Congress.
Separation of powers is a constitutional doctrine that divides the government into three branches to prevent any single branch from accumulating too much power.
The panel found that the associations and grant recipients who sued to release the funds do not have valid legal grounds to bring a lawsuit in the case….