The justices split 5-4 on whether to halt a judge’s order to restart nearly $2 billion in State Department and USAID payments for work that has been done.

A divided US Supreme Court dealt a blow to President Donald Trump’s foreign-aid freeze, reinstating a lower court order that requires the quick disbursement of as much as $2 billion owed to contractors for already completed work.

Chief Justice Roberts issued a temporary pause. Aid organizations said in a Supreme Court filing that they "would face extraordinary and irreversible harm if the funding freeze continues."