AVAC v. United States Department of State

On February 10, 2025, AVAC and another nonprofit organization sued the President, the State Department, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Marco Rubio, Secretary State and Acting Administrator of USAID, and Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking emergency relief from an Executive Order that inhumanely froze all funding for foreign assistance.

A day later, an additional case was brought against the federal government by Global Health Council and partners. While the cases were brought separately, they were assigned to the same judge who brought them together as related cases to be considered at the same time.

By abruptly freezing foreign assistance funding, the administration halted the life-saving work of organizations across the globe and cost thousands of American jobs and counting. Lead lawyer on the case, Lauren Bateman from Public Citizen said, “The Trump administration’s freeze on foreign assistance funding is dangerous and illegal. When programs are abruptly shuttered, the impacts are felt throughout the world—with the most vulnerable people bearing the deadliest impact.” 

The Executive Order forced AVAC to abruptly stop CASPR, a coalition of African civil society organizations that supports research on HIV prevention and provides resources for local communities, including medical research trial participants, journalists, and policy makers. As a result, the rollout of emerging HIV preventative drugs across the African continent may be delayed, risking deadly consequences. AVAC has been forced by the illegal funding freeze to begin laying off staff. 

Mitchell Warren, AVAC’s Executive Director, called the funding freeze and other the draconian actions of this administration harmful to global health and security: “In the name of economic efficiency, they are destabilizing public health, diplomatic relationships, communities, and economies. AVAC and many of our African civil society CASPR partners will be irreparably harmed by this pause. It takes time to build up these programs and relationships, but it is taking days to destroy them—and it will take more time to re-build, no matter who funds these efforts. USAID has made America stronger, safer and more prosperous for decades. It’s no time to throw that away.”

Key Dates

• January 20: US Presidential administration issues Executive Order “pausing” foreign aid for 90-day review.
• February 10: AVAC, Journalism Development Network, and Public Citizen file suit against funding freeze; read about it in our press release, New York Times, Devex, and Politico.
• February 11: Global Health Council and other plaintiffs file suit against administration challenging funding freeze.
• February 12:  Judge Amir Ali holds preliminary hearing on both cases.
• February 13: Judge Amir Ali issues temporary restraining order, ordering government to reinstate foreign aid funding; here are the press statements from Public Citizen and the Global Health Council and media reports here: NPR, Time, Devex, and The Guardian.
• February 18: US government lawyers respond to temporary restraining order. Read about it in Washington Post.
• February 19: AVAC’s lawyers respond, asking the Court to hold US government officials in contempt of Court. See it in Reuters, the New York Times, CNBC, NBC, Politico and Devex. This filing includes an alarming declaration from “Jessica Doe”, a USAID contracting office providing clear evidence of intentional disregard of the temporary restraining order.
• February 20: US government lawyers responded to the motion for contempt; AVAC’s lawyers responded; and the Court responded. The Court made clear to US government officials that continued defiance of the Court’s order is unlawful. See coverage of these developments in the Washington Post, Devex, and Politico.
• February 20: Separately, Global Health Council filed an additional motion trying to compel payment of foreign-assistance funds.
• February 21: The Court re-states that US government officials must “immediately cease [the blanket suspension of funds] and to take all necessary steps to honor the terms of contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, loans, and other federal foreign assistance awards.” US government lawyers filed a memo in opposition, requesting clarification and stay of the Court’s temporary restraining order, which the Court denied. A joint status report is due on February 26 addressing US government’s “prompt compliance with the order.”
• February 25: In a telephone hearing, the Court ordered US government officials to pay all invoices submitted prior to 2/13 by 11:59 pm on 2/26, and to permit and promptly pay requests for reimbursement for work, to take no actions to impede prompt payment, and to take all necessary action to ensure prompt payment. A status report from all parties is due to the court by noon on February 26. Read about it in the Washington Post, Associated Press, CNN, Devex and The New York Times. In response, US government officials entered a motion to stay the court’s order, and later that evening, they filed a notice of Appeal to DC Circuit Court.
• February 26: Judge Ali denied the US government request to stay the court’s order; read about it in Reuters, Al Jazeera, Axios and Devex. All parties filed a report on the status of the temporary restraining order. Late that night, US government officials asked the US Supreme Court to stay the lower court’s order. Chief Justice Roberts stayed the order, and parties in the case must respond by Feb 28. Read about it in the BBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and Vox.
• February 27: AVAC’s lawyers file a reply in support of their original motion for preliminary relief in District Court, District of Columbia.
• February 28: AVAC’s lawyers file an opposition to the Supreme Court’s order to stay. Read the press release and more about it in Devex.
• March 3: AVAC lawyers submit additional documents, internal USAID memos, showing US government officials have misled the Court about the availability of waivers to permit lifesaving humanitarian assistance and confirm that defendants have taken no steps toward compliance with the Court’s February 13 temporary restraining order. Read about the memos in the New York Times and Devex.
• March 3: Judge Ali sets hearing date in AVAC v. State Department for Thursday, March 6 at 2pm EST.
• March 5: In response to the government’s request, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration must release up to $2 billion in frozen foreign aid funding. See coverage in ABC News, the BBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Devex, The Guardian, Health Policy Watch, the New York Times, NPR, Reuters, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
• March 6: After a four-hour hearing, Judge Ali ordered the government by Monday, March 10 to pay all payment requests and immediately release line of credit draw-downs from plaintiffs in both the AVAC and GHC cases. A ruling on the full case is forthcoming, and the judge asked parties for additional input to inform it. Read about the hearing in the Associated Press, Axios, Devex, the Hill, Politico, Reuters, Washington Post and read this legal analysis in the New York Times.
• March 7: All parties submitted additional information, per the judge’s request. Read AVAC’s here, an important new declaration from Jessica Doe here, and the US government’s here.
• March 9: US government officials filed additional updates here and here.
• March 10: In a 48-page ruling, Judge Ali ordered the administration to release USAID payments owed under certain existing contracts through February 13. Read about it in ABC News, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Devex, Health Policy Watch, the Hill, MSNBC, NBC News, Newsweek, the New York Times, Washington Post.

Learn more about AVAC v State and Global Health Council v Trump.