A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump Administration to pay a portion of the $2 billion in foreign contracts by Monday evening.
US District Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee held a hearing on Thursday after the Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling denied the Trump Administration’s request to vacate his TRO forcing the administration to pay $2 billion in foreign contracts.
Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.
Alito said he was stunned by the judge’s order forcing the Trump Administration to pay $2 billion in foreign contracts.
“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,” Alito wrote in a scathing dissent.
After a four-hour hearing on Thursday, Judge Ali ordered the Trump Admin to get some of the plaintiffs’ invoices paid by 6 pm on Monday.
Fox News reported:
A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to pay at least a portion of the nearly $2 billion in owed foreign aid for previously completed projects by 6 p.m. Monday, an expeditious ruling that comes just one day after the Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to continue its freeze.
The decision from U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali came after a more than four-hour court hearing Thursday, where he grilled both parties on their proposed repayment plans, and a timeframe for the government to comply with the $1.9 billion in owed foreign aid that has been completed.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Ali ordered the government to pay at least a portion of the $1.9 billion by Monday at 6 p.m.
“I think it’s reasonable to get the plaintiffs’ invoices paid by 6 p.m. on Monday,” said Judge Ali. “What I’ll order today is the first concrete step that plaintiffs have their invoices paid … [and] work completed prior to Feb. 13 to be paid by 6 p.m. on Monday, March 10th.”