A federal appeals court voted Wednesday to reverse a lower court’s ruling that halted the Trump administration from cutting billions of dollars in funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Two groups of nonprofit grant recipients sued the administration in February, arguing the order to cancel funding was unconstitutional because it concerned money already appropriated by Congress. But the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia ruled 2-1 on Wednesday that the plaintiffs lacked standing to have their claim heard.
“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,” U.S. Circuit Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote for the majority.