The US Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump's administration to halt foreign aid payments, the Associated Press reports.
“The court stayed the district judge's ruling pending the parties' arguments on the merits,“ the statement said.
In mid-February, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to resume payments of frozen foreign aid. As the District Court for the District of Columbia noted, the stated goal of the new US administration was to provide an opportunity to review the programs for their effectiveness, but “defendants have not offered an explanation why suspending all foreign aid is a rational precursor to reviewing the programs.“
On Tuesday, a federal judge gave the administration of US President Donald Trump less than two days to resume foreign aid, saying it had failed to comply with a previous order to unfreeze it.
After taking office on January 20, Trump signed an order to suspend development aid to other countries for 90 days to assess whether the programs were consistent with US foreign policy. The decision was appealed in court.