The Department of Justice filed court documents Monday arguing President Donald Trump has vast constitutional power to pause foreign assistance and place U.S. Agency for International Development workers on paid administrative leave indefinitely.
Trump in his official capacity as president and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been named as defendants in a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction that would block the administration from sidelining and recalling USAID’s global workforce.
“There can be no reasonable doubt that it is the President whose authority reigns principally in the realm of foreign affairs,” U.S. attorneys wrote in a court response filed Monday. “Pursuant to Article II of the Constitution, as well as powers conferred by Congress in the Foreign Service Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, the President has broad authority to attend to the foreign affairs of the nation, including by determining how foreign aid funds are used.”