One of our lawsuits against the Trump regime is at the Supreme Court right now.

See our earlier note — copied below in case you missed it — for more about this
breaking news.

******

Through what is sometimes referred to as its “shadow docket,” the Supreme Court
will be deciding on an emergency basis whether the Trump administration must
immediately resume funding for foreign assistance grants, as a U.S. district
judge has ordered.

We could get a decision as early as tomorrow.

Here’s a refresher about this lawsuit:

January 20
On his very first day back in office, Donald Trump issues an executive order
directing agencies to freeze foreign assistance that supports humanitarian
efforts worldwide.

February 10
Public Citizen files a lawsuit on behalf of two organizations that receive
federal grants for humanitarian work.

February 13
The judge, responding to our motion, requires resumption of foreign aid funding
for our clients and others as the case proceeds.

February 26
With the administration so far having failed to comply with the order, the judge
orders it to release funds by midnight that day for work already performed.

Instead, the administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn the judge’s
order and excuse its noncompliance. The Supreme Court could rule tomorrow.

As Allison Zieve, the director of Public Citizen’s Litigation Group, told the
media:

“The lengths to which the government is going to flout a court order, all for
the goal of ending life-saving humanitarian assistance, are staggering.”

By the way, this is different from the separate lawsuit we filed over Trump’s
illegal shutdown of the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) and the five other lawsuits we’ve filed so far against Trump since he
returned to power.

One other point worth making:

* Polls reveal that many Americans think foreign aid accounts for 25% or even
50% of all federal spending and that they would prefer it to be something
like 10% instead.

* In reality, only about 1% of the federal budget — just one penny out of every
dollar — goes to foreign aid.

* With that relatively modest expenditure, American aid helps millions and
millions of people all across the world who are facing famine and
malnutrition, illness and disease, oppression, disaster, and death.

* We are the richest country on Earth. But in 2023, there were 24 other
countries that gave more, as a percentage of their gross national income, in
development aid than the United States did.

* Yet it seems that Donald Trump won’t be happy until America is dead last on
that list.

Trump’s foreign aid freeze is selfish, shortsighted, and inhumane. We have to
fight it with everything we’ve got.

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For progress,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen


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