FBI Director Kash Patel Replaced As Acting ATF Boss, Army Secretary Steps In<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nWriting for the two-judge majority, U.S. Circuit Judge Karen Henderson noted the nonprofit groups \u201clack a cause of action to press their claims\u201d and as such, failed to satisfy what is legally necessary for an injunction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Henderson wrote that only the U.S. Government Accountability Office \u2014 a federal watchdog \u2014 has the authority to challenge a president\u2019s decision to withhold foreign aid funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Appointed to the appeals court by President George H.W. Bush, Henderson noted that the ruling did not address whether Trump\u2019s foreign aid freeze violated the Constitution by encroaching on Congress\u2019s spending power. Her opinion was joined by Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a dissent, Circuit Judge Florence Pan, appointed by Biden, argued that the decision allowed the Trump administration to ignore federal law and undermine the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe court\u2019s acquiescence in and facilitation of the Executive\u2019s unlawful behavior derails the carefully crafted system of checked and balanced power that serves as the greatest security against tyranny \u2013 the accumulation of excessive authority in a single Branch,\u201d Pan wrote, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget, the budget office for the White House, said the appeals court ruling stops \u201cradical left dark money groups\u201d from \u201cmaliciously interfering with the president\u2019s ability to spend responsibly and to administer foreign aid in a lawful manner in alignment with his America First policies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The administration managed another win in the nation\u2019s highest court this week as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Supreme Court reduced the scope of environmental studies for key infrastructure projects, potentially speeding up the permitting process for highways, airports, and pipelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruling is the latest loss for environmentalists at the court, which has recently thrown out measures aimed at protecting wetlands and preventing cross-state air pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has frequently criticized the government\u2019s environmental assessment process as overly onerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the court\u2019s ruling without any dissent. Ultimately, both liberal and conservative justices agreed with the final verdict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kavanaugh ruled that the environmental issues in the case\u2014an 88-mile railway that would transport waxy crude oil from Utah\u2019s Uinta Basin to existing rail networks\u2014were \u201cnot close.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCourts should afford substantial deference and should not micromanage those agency choices so long as they fall within a broad zone of reasonableness,\u201d Kavanaugh wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSimply stated, NEPA is a procedural cross-check, not a substantive roadblock,\u201d he later added. \u201cThe goal of the law is to inform agency decision-making, not to paralyze it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court\u2019s three liberals, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, all agreed with the decision but used different rationales. Sotomayor, representing the three, argued that federal agencies should limit their environmental examinations to their respective areas of competence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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