The federal judge presiding over a challenge to the Trump administration's pause on USAID spending, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, is a new face on the bench appointed by President Biden.

Trump-appointed Judge James Ho said he resigned from the Federal Judges Association over a "merely sanctimonious" statement on judicial threats.

The U.S. is "not an autocracy," Judge Sparkle Sooknanan wrote in her ruling. "It is a system of checks and balances."

The Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee filed a federal civil lawsuit last month challenging the executive order, alleging it was a naked power grab by Mr. Trump to assume more control over U.S. elections.

U.S. District Court Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, has ordered the Trump administration to pay out $2 billion in foreign aid owed to contractors for completed work.

Biden-nominated federal Judge blocks the National Institutes of Health from applying a standard indirect cost rate of 15% across the board for grants.