Washington: A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a lower court's directive mandating the State Department to restart billions of dollars in foreign aid payments, marking a substantial legal win for President Donald Trump. In a 2-1 decision, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit determined that a judge had incorrectly ordered the administration to disburse funds that Congress had already sanctioned.

According to Anadolu Agency, the court's opinion was written by US Circuit Judge Karen Henderson, who was joined by Trump appointee Gregory Katsas. The ruling stated, "The district court erred in granting that relief because the grantees lack a cause of action to press their claims. They may not bring a freestanding constitutional claim if the underlying alleged violation and claimed authority are statutory." Dissenting from the majority, Judge Florence Pan, appointed by former President Joe Biden, argued that her colleagues overlooked procedural norms, stating, "My colleagues in the majority excuse the government's forfeiture of what they perceive to be a key argument, and then rule in the President's favor on that ground, thus departing from procedural norms that are designed to safeguard the court's impartiality and independence."

The decision comes after Trump halted all foreign aid for 90 days starting January 20, the day of his return to the White House for a second term, and subsequently moved to limit operations of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Under the US Constitution, Congress holds the "power of the purse," responsible for fund allocation through legislation, while the president's role is to implement the law using those funds.