A coalition of U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) contractors and nonprofits who declare President Trump’s govt order to freeze overseas assist might irreparably hurt their operations have requested a federal decide to carry the Trump administration in civil contempt.
The request comes after the administration stated in court docket filings that it’s not paying out funds for hundreds of overseas assist grants and contracts regardless of the decide’s order to raise the sweeping freeze.
“This Court should not brook such brazen defiance of the express terms of its order,” wrote Lauren Bateman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
The contractors sued the Trump administration earlier this month, alleging they have been collectively ready on a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in excellent invoices from the federal government. Two different nonprofits then filed a grievance alleging Trump’s govt order violated the separation of powers and has brought about irreparable hurt to their operations, which rely closely on USAID funding.
Final week, U.S. District Decide Amir Ali ordered the federal government to briefly stop efforts to terminate overseas assist contracts and grants in place earlier than Trump returned to the White Home. He additionally blocked the administration from issuing or imposing terminations, suspensions or stop-work orders in reference to any federal overseas assist awards in existence earlier than Inauguration Day.
However late Tuesday, the administration wrote in court docket filings that retaining the help frozen doesn’t run afoul of the decide’s order, pointing to a line that reads “nothing in this order shall prohibit the Restrained Defendants from enforcing the terms of contracts and grants.”
The administration stated it had “worked diligently” to conform and had “not yet identified” any termination, suspension or stop-work order on USAID contracts or grants that weren’t allowed below the decide’s order, given the obvious caveat.
The contractors and nonprofits referred to as the federal government’s assertion “remarkable,” conveying disbelief that the federal government might conclude that terminating practically all overseas assist was authorized regardless of the court docket’s “unambiguous” order.
They pointed to Trump’s Feb. 15 commentary on social media that “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law” as proof the president sought to “flout his obligation to comply with the Constitution and the law.”
“Here, Defendants are plainly in violation of the TRO,” Bateman wrote.
The plaintiffs requested the decide to order the administration to conform and instantly reimburse overseas assist recipients, along with discovering it in civil contempt.
USAID, which administers billions of {dollars} in overseas assist annually, has confronted blistering assaults and has been systematically dismantled by the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), seemingly spearheaded however not formally led by billionaire Elon Musk.
A distinct federal decide briefly blocked the federal government from inserting a whole lot of USAID staff on administrative depart and recalling many from their posts around the globe as a part of a separate lawsuit. He’s weighing whether or not broader restrictions needs to be imposed whereas litigation is ongoing in that lawsuit however has not but dominated.
