Non-profits lose appeal to save USAID funding amid Trump administration cuts

Non-profits that sued President Donald Trump’s administration over U.S. Agency for International Development cuts were told they don’t have legal standing, clearing the way for the administration to cut billions in foreign aid.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C., Circuit overruled a lower court’s decision that banned the Trump administration from making drastic cuts to USAID funding that had already been approved by Congress. The decision was 2-1.

The court didn’t address whether the cuts were constitutional.

Judges Karen Henderson and Gregory Katsas, who were appointed by presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump, respectively, said that only the head of the Government Accountability Office, in the legislative branch, can sue under the Impoundment Control Act.

“The district court erred in granting that relief because the grantees lack a cause of action to press their claim. They may not bring a freestanding constitutional claim if the underlying alleged violation and claimed authority are statutory,” Henderson wrote.

The win in the lower court was one of the first big successes by non-profits suing the administration.

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