The United States Supreme Court issued a momentous decision today in our lawsuit
against Donald Trump’s illegal foreign aid freeze.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must stop defying a
district judge’s orders.

But this lawsuit is far from over. The Supreme Court ruling sends the case back
to the district court.

We will be in front of the judge tomorrow arguing for a preliminary injunction requiring the administration to allow
life-saving foreign assistance work and funding to resume while the overall case
proceeds.

Here’s a recap of the timeline in this case:

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 the administration to allow aid
groups funded by the U.S. to resume work while 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 performed before the
freeze went into effect. Instead, the administration asks the Supreme Court to
overturn the judge’s order and excuse its noncompliance.

March 5
The Supreme Court rejects the administration’s request to excuse its
noncompliance with the judge’s order requiring payment of completed work.

March 6
Public Citizen lawyers will be back in court arguing for a preliminary
injunction requiring the administration to allow work, and funding for that
work, to resume while the case proceeds.

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 are
fighting it with everything we have.

If you can, please donate today to support Public Citizen’s work standing up to
the Trump regime. [[link removed]]

Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will help
at such a critical moment. [[link removed]]

CONTRIBUTE NOW [[link removed]]
Or join our popular Monthly Giving program (if you haven’t already) to help make
sure we have the ongoing financial resources to fight Trump day after day after
day. [[link removed]]

If you’ve donated to Public Citizen already, thank you. If a donation is not
right, we get it. Either way, thank you for being part of Public Citizen.

For progress,

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


Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009 | Unsubscribe
[[link removed]]