The judge said the blanket suspension was likely ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and questioned its necessity as ‘a rational precursor to reviewing programs.’
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to restore funding for nonprofit organizations that rely on federal grants to provide foreign aid assistance.
After taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump announced a 90-day freeze on all foreign aid while a review of those programs was ongoing.
In a ruling on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali stated that the administration failed to justify why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid was “a rational precursor to reviewing programs.”
Ali said that implementing the blanket suspension was likely “arbitrary and capricious” because it failed to consider the “immense reliance interests” of businesses and other organizations that had previously been awarded the aid.
“To be sure, there is nothing arbitrary and capricious about executive agencies conducting a review of programs,” the judge stated. “But there has been no explanation offered in the record, let alone a ‘satisfactory explanation … including a rational connection between the facts found and the choice made,’ as to why reviewing programs — many longstanding and taking place pursuant to contractual terms — required an immediate and wholesale suspension of appropriated foreign aid.”
The ruling temporarily barred the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Office of Management and Budget, and their agents from suspending foreign aid funding disbursements and enforcing contract terminations or stop-work orders.