The money was already approved. The programs were already underway.
Then, with one obscure maneuver and a 6–3 Supreme Court lifeline,
Donald Trump froze over $4 billion and ignited a constitutional knife fight.
Supporters call it a long-overdue reclaiming of presidential power.
Critics see a blueprint for dismantling Congress’s control over the natio… Continues…
Trump’s foreign aid freeze, rescued by the Supreme Court’s emergency order,
is far bigger than a budget skirmish. By blessing his “pocket rescission” tactic—at least for now—the Court allowed one president to stall billions in congressionally
approved spending with a timing trick, reviving a maneuver unused for nearly fifty years.
Humanitarian and democracy programs abroad are suddenly hostage to a separation‑of‑powers experiment at home.
The conservative majority framed its move
as deference to the executive in foreign affairs,
insisting it was only preserving the status quo while courts sort out the law.
But the dissenters saw something more dangerous: a quiet erosion of Congress’s power of the purse.
Coupled with a pending case on the president’s ability
to fire independent agency officials at will
, this moment feels less like a technical legal dispute and more
like a turning point in how much power any future president can personally wield.
