One of President Joe Biden's final judicial nominees has put a temporary injunction on Donald Trump's attempts to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Newsweek sought email comment from USAID and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday.
Why It Matters
Some Republican senators were openly angry after Amir Ali was confirmed as a Washington, D.C. federal judge in November, two weeks after Trump was elected president.
On February 13, Ali temporarily blocked Trump's order to defund the international aid agency, USAID.
What To Know
Ali placed a temporary injunction on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others in the Trump administration, at the request of two aid agencies that receive funding from USAID, AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Global Health Council.
The Senate confirmed Ali, who has been prominent in seeking more minorities in the courts, as a federal judge on November 20, 2024 after a very close vote of 50-48. The two Republican absences were Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Braun, who was preparing to leave the Senate to become Indiana governor.
In response, North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis told the political website Roll Call that he was "very angry" that not enough Republicans showed up to stop the confirmation.
"Ninety percent of success in life is showing up. We could have stopped those 18 votes after that first vote if we had shown up that day," Tillis said. "I don't think it's unreasonable to make damn sure we're all there at the strike of the gavel. It's that simple."
Ali grew up in Canada to Egyptian parents before moving to the U.S. He has long advocated for Arab American rights, especially after 9/11.
In an interview with The Appellate Project, an organization dedicated to getting more minorities in the appellate courts, he said that when he moved to the U.S as a young adult, he had "the undignified experience of repeat travel across the U.S. border as an Arab in the post-9/11 world."
"Each time I'd come back from visiting my family, I'd wait for the inevitable gesture toward secondary screening. There, I'd be held with others who looked like me, sometimes for hours, until I'd be questioned about my job, family, and personal life," he said.
"I became very interested in the notion that systems of law and discretion could lead otherwise good people to participate in something so disturbing. Challenging those systems has become a focus of my civil rights work today."
What People Are Saying
In striking down Trump's executive order to defund USAID, Judge Amir Ali said that the Trump administration has still not offered any explanation for its actions.
"At least to date, Defendants have not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid, which set off a shock wave and upended reliance interests for thousands of agreements with businesses, nonprofits, and organizations around the country, was a rational precursor to reviewing programs," he wrote.
"Absent temporary injunctive relief, therefore, the scale of the enormous harm that has already occurred will almost certainly increase," he added.
What Happens Next
Ali will now consider whether to impose a longer-term injunction on the Trump administration. He ordered that all parties "shall meet and confer and file a joint status report by February 14, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. proposing an expedited preliminary injunction briefing schedule."
On the temporary injunction he put in place, he ordered that the Trump administration must file a status report by February 18, "apprising the Court of the status of their compliance with this order."
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more