Justice Samuel Alito issued a scathing dissent Wednesday after the Supreme Court declined to block a lower court’s order forcing the Trump administration to pay $2 billion in foreign aid immediately, a move he said left him “stunned.”
The 5-4 order effectively allowed the payments to proceed despite the administration’s efforts to freeze the funds. Alito, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, condemned the decision as a failure to check “judicial hubris.” He was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh.
