The US Supreme Court's decision to block US President Donald Trump's attempts to stop the disbursement of foreign aid funds will not significantly constraint the president's discretion, even though more court challenges are to be expected in the near future, Stephen Presser, the Raoul Berger professor of legal history emeritus at Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law, told Sputnik.
"I expect any disruption of President Trump's discretion while in office to be only minimal. The order to pay US contractors for work that has already been performed is understandable as a simple matter of contract law, and should not present a great Constitutional challenge," Presser said.
On Wednesday, following the US Supreme Court's decision to uphold a lower court's ruling concerning USAID, Justice Samuel Alito said in his dissenting opinion that he was "stunned" that the majority of his colleagues think that a single district-court judge has "the unchecked power to compel" the government to pay the money.
At the same time, the expert suggested that at some point the majority of Supreme Court justices will rule that Alito is right and that permitting a single district court judge to undermine the operation of the executive branch is an infringement on the separation of powers.
"I do expect that the abolition of particular agencies which do not advance the policies of prevention of waste, fraud, and abuse will eventually be accomplished by President Trump, but it is likely there will be delays and court challenges in the coming months," Presser concluded.
US President Donald Trump suspended all foreign aid for 90 days in one of his first executive orders after taking the oath of office on January 20. In early February, he appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting head of USAID. Rubio then notified Congress that a review of USAID's foreign assistance activities was underway, with an eye toward a potential reorganization.
US billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has said that Trump agreed to shut down USAID. Musk also referred to the agency as a "criminal organization" that "needs to die." USAID employees worldwide have been put on administrative leave.