This lone district judge has no right to run US foreign policy
By Rich Lowry
Published March 7, 2025, 7:20 p.m. ET
It’s good to be king — or a district judge.
Judge Amir Ali has no power to appropriate money or spend it.
Neither does he have any authority over the conduct of US foreign policy.
If he wanted to have any of these things, he’s in the wrong line of work as a federal district judge.
Ali is not letting that stop him in his escalating conflict with the Trump administration over USAID spending, though.
The judge won a modified victory in the Supreme Court, which opted not to stop him from trying to force the Trump administration to spend money that it has currently paused.
In a dissent expressing shock and dismay that the court is letting Ali proceed on his current course, Justice Samuel Alito described the crux of the matter as the question, “Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars?”
The Supreme Court said, “Yes,” or, in effect, “Don’t bother us with this now although we realize the matter may come back up to us soon enough.”
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https://nypost.com/2025/03/07/opinion/this-lone-district-judge-has-no-right-to-run-us-foreign-policy/