The administration rushed to the Supreme Court Wednesday seeking a reprieve from lower court proceedings that, if left unchecked, would force President Trump to spend $12 billion in foreign assistance that he argues is a waste.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the lower courts are meddling in a spending process reserved for Congress and the president.
At issue is a large tranche of foreign assistance money allocated by Congress, but which Mr. Trump says he doesn’t want to spend.
Mr. Sauer said unless the justices step in, the president will be forced to spend the money by the end of the government’s fiscal year in five weeks.
“In other words, it will effectively force the government to rapidly obligate some $12 billion in foreign-aid funds that would expire September 30 and to continue obligating tens of billions of dollars more — overriding the Executive Branch’s foreign-policy judgments regarding whether to pursue rescissions and thwarting interbranch dialogue,” Mr. Sauer said in a petition to the high court.
He said once the money is out the door, it can’t come back should the Trump administration prevail in the cases.
Mr. Sauer asked the justices to stay the district court’s ruling, which would mean the government wouldn’t have to spend the money unless Mr. Trump loses the fight.
The original cases were brought by the Global Health Council, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and other private groups that were counting on getting the government funding.
Mr. Sauer asked the justices to rule by Tuesday, saying any delay beyond that means the government will have to start taking steps to negotiate the spending with foreign partners.
The cases are the latest in a string of lawsuits challenging Mr. Trump’s power to adjust spending levels set by Congress. The high court has been mixed in its treatment of the president’s claims.
In this instance, the matter is complicated by how it has wound its way through lower courts.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, has ordered the government to spend the money, ruling that the president illegally tried to “impound” the funding in defiance of Congress.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a decision vacating Judge Ali’s ruling — but the full circuit court has yet to issue the mandate, leaving Judge Ali’s order as the only operative directive right now.
Mr. Sauer said he wants the Supreme Court to give force to the panel’s ruling.
If Judge Ali’s ruling is allowed to stand, he said, it would upend the traditional battlefield over spending disputes between the president and Congress.
Mr. Sauer said a 1974 law, the Impoundment Control Act, laid out a detailed process for resolving such disputes. What it didn’t envision, he said, was giving private organizations such as the AIDS Vaccine Coalition a right of action.
