On Tuesday, February 11, organizations and companies, including the American Bar Association and the international development consulting firm Chemonics, signed contracts with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and sued the Trump administration, alleging that its dissolution of the U.S. foreign aid agency was illegal.
According to Reuters, in the lawsuit filed with the Washington federal court, the plaintiffs claimed that Trump had no authority to shut down the federally established agencies by Congress, nor to refuse funds already approved by Congress.
This lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal challenges against the Trump administration for dissolving USAID.
The lawsuit lists Trump, the State Department, and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as defendants, seeking a court order to reverse the cuts to the agency’s funding and operations.
According to ABC News, the lawsuit alleges that the U.S. government did not pay companies for work completed during the dissolution of USAID, resulting in these companies being owed hundreds of millions of dollars.
Additionally, the sudden freeze in foreign aid also forced USAID contractors to lay off a large number of employees, including 750 people at the Washington-based Chemonics International.
The White House did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
This is at least the third lawsuit against the Trump administration for dissolving USAID, with the American Federation of Government Employees representing around 800,000 federal workers and the American Foreign Service Association filing a lawsuit on February 6.
According to ABC News, Peter Marocco, acting deputy administrator of USAID, defended the decision to cut funding and reduce staff in a written testimony submitted on Monday evening in response to a lawsuit by labor groups.
Marocco wrote that due to the “non-compliance” and “disobedience” of USAID staff, it was necessary for the government to halt the agency’s funding and operations so that the government could individually review each aid program to determine which U.S. foreign aid programs could continue.