'Stunned': Justice Alito melts down as colleagues buck Trump

The Supreme Court refused to let President Donald Trump freeze billions in foreign aid. In his dissent, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that he was “stunned” that the court would not allow Trump’s order to stand, Law & Crime reported Wednesday.

The court issued a 5-4 ruling denying the Trump administration’s request to stop an order from a federal judge to pay almost $2 million in foreign aid funding on work that is already done. Alito called the judge’s decision “an act of judicial hubris.”

“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?” Alito wrote. “The answer to that question should be an emphatic ‘No,’ but a majority of this Court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned.”

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Trump froze the funds, which are from USAID and the State Department, as he seeks to shrink the federal government. Nonprofit groups sued, arguing that the move went above Congress’ authority. Trump has since dismantled USAID.

Alito, along with Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh argued that U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali stepped beyond his authority in his decision. Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Amy Coney Barrett comprised the majority.

Experts have been keeping an eye on whether the Supreme Court will align with Trump during his second administration.

“The unsigned order does not actually require the Trump administration to immediately make up to $2 billion in foreign aid payments; it merely clears the way for the district court to compel those payments, presumably if it is more specific about the contracts that have to be honored,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

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“The fact that four justices nevertheless dissented – vigorously – from such a decision is a sign that the Court is going to be divided, perhaps along these exact lines, in many of the more impactful Trump-related cases that are already on their way,” he added.

Alito said that the Supreme Court failed in its responsibility to make sure the Constitution “is not abused.”

“Today, the Court makes a most unfortunate misstep that rewards an act of judicial hubris and imposes a $2 billion penalty on American taxpayers,” he wrote. “The District Court has made plain its frustration with the Government, and respondents raise serious concerns about nonpayment for completed work. But the relief ordered is, quite simply, too extreme a response. A federal court has many tools to address a party’s supposed nonfeasance. Self-aggrandizement of its jurisdiction is not one of them. I would chart a different path than the Court does today, so I must respectfully dissent.”