Supreme Court rules against Trump's order to freeze billions of dollars in international aid

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an order by President Donald Trump to freeze some $2 billion in payments to international aid organizations.

In its first ruling against a Trump move, the court voted 5 to 4 to uphold a lower court's ruling requiring the administration to make the payments under existing contracts.

Upon taking office on Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order ordering a 90-day freeze on international assistance.

The Supreme Court justices say the federal judge who ordered the Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department to reinstate the payments must clarify what obligations the government must meet.

Conservatives such as Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, voted in favor of the lower court ruling along with the three progressive justices on the bench.

Justice Samuel Alito argued in his dissenting brief, supported by the three other conservative members of the chamber who voted against the measure, "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," he asserted.