The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay that would let it keep billions of dollars in foreign-aid appropriations on hold while it pursues rescission of the funds. In a filing late 26 Aug., Solicitor General John Sauer said the government otherwise must begin obligating about $12 billion by 30 Sept.—the end of the fiscal year—undermining the President’s foreign-policy judgment and short-circuiting the statutory dialogue with Congress. The request follows months of litigation over a 20 Jan. executive order that imposed a 90-day freeze on virtually all USAID and State Department assistance. Human-rights and development groups led by the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Journalism Development Network sued, arguing the freeze violates the Impoundment Control Act and the Appropriations Clause. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali agreed and ordered the administration to resume payments, a ruling the Supreme Court left in place by 5–4 in March. A divided D.C. Circuit panel later vacated much of Ali’s injunction—concluding that only the Government Accountability Office may challenge an impoundment—but has not yet issued its mandate, and the full circuit on 28 Aug. declined rehearing. That leaves the district-court order temporarily in force, prompting the administration’s return to the high court. Justice Department lawyers argue that aid contractors lack standing and that disputes over unspent appropriations should be resolved by Congress and the Comptroller General, not private plaintiffs. The government asked the Court to act by 2 Sept. so it can decide whether to seek formal rescissions or allow the money to lapse. The foreign-aid fight comes days after the Supreme Court, without noted dissent, let the administration proceed with cancelling $783 million in National Institutes of Health diversity-research grants—another move critics say sidelines spending decisions already approved by Congress.