On February 13, 2025, Judge Amir Ali of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order in two combined cases—one filed by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contractors, a second by USAID grant recipients—challenging Executive Order 14169, “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid,” which paused almost all foreign assistance funding. 

In issuing the TRO, the Court found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits because “Defendants ha[d] not offered any explanation for why a blanket suspension of all congressionally appropriated foreign aid, which set off a shockwave and upended reliance interests for thousands of agreements with businesses, nonprofits, and organizations around the country, was a rational precursor to reviewing programs.” The Court highlighted the harm to plaintiffs’ core business operations resulting from the funding pause, coupled with the harm to the beneficiaries of the myriad life-sustaining programs administered by USAID implementing partners. The Court also rejected the government’s contention that a complete freeze on foreign assistance was necessary to assess whether USAID’s programming aligned with the Trump Administration’s foreign policy goals and found the balance of harms and public interest both weighed in favor of a TRO. 

The Court’s TRO provides immediate relief for contractors—it prevents the State Department, USAID, the Office of Management and Budget, or their actors, from suspending, pausing, or preventing the disbursement of funds “in connection with any contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, loans, or other federal foreign assistance award that was in existence of as of January 19, 2025,” or from giving effect to any terminations, suspensions, or stop-work orders on those programs. At the same time, the Court’s Order makes clear that it does not “prohibit the Restrained Defendants from enforcing the terms of contracts or grants.” 

With that in mind, USAID implementing partners should take the opportunity afforded by the TRO to seek payment of monies owed for work performed on their contracts and grants, while also preparing for future terminations that may result from the individualized administration of contracts or grants should the Court not issue broader and more permanent injunctive relief. And while the TRO provides an opportunity, implementing partners should be prepared to proceed with patience in the processing of any such claims, given the substantial layoffs of USAID staff that have already occurred.