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Supreme Court Case Tracker

Emergency application

Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition

Denied
No. 24A831Vacatur applicationFiled by the federal governmentPresented to The Chief JusticeFrom United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on March 5, 2025, leaving the lower-court order in place.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Alito, Justice Thomas, Justice Gorsuch, and Justice Kavanaugh would have ruled the other way.

Filed Ruled 7 days after filing

What's being asked

The federal government asks the Supreme Court to undo (vacate) a lower-court order from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The case is Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition.

What the Court did

On February 13, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered a temporary restraining order enjoining the Government from enforcing directives pausing disbursements of foreign development assistance funds. The present application does not challenge the Government’s obligation to follow that order. On February 25, the District Court ordered the Government to issue payments for a portion of the paused disbursements—those owed for work already completed before the issuance of the District Court’s temporary restraining order—by 11:59 p.m. on February 26. Several hours before that deadline, the Government filed this application to vacate the District Court’s February 25 order and requested an immediate administrative stay. The Chief Justice entered an administrative stay shortly before the 11:59 p.m. deadline and subsequently referred the application to the Court. The application is denied. Given that the deadline in the challenged order has now passed, and in light of the ongoing preliminary injunction proceedings, the District Court should clarify what obligations the Government must fulfill to ensure compliance with the temporary restraining order, with due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines. The order heretofore entered by The Chief Justice is vacated. Justice Alito, joined by Justice Thomas, Justice Gorsuch, and Justice Kavanaugh dissent. (Detached <a href = 'https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a831_3135.pdf'>Opinion</a>)

Dissenting · 3recorded against the Court's order
  1. Thomas
  2. Gorsuch
  3. Kavanaugh
Vote not published · 6the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Alito
  3. Sotomayor
  4. Kagan
  5. Barrett
  6. Jackson
The order records the positions of 3 of 9 justices. The Court usually does not say how each justice voted on an emergency application, so the rest are shown as not published.
Days from filing to a ruling for 21 rulings on applications where the Court asked for a response since January 1, 2025. The band is the middle half, the tick the median, and the mark this application: ruled 7 days after filing.

What it means

This is a temporary order about what happens while the case is decided, not a ruling on who is right. The case continues in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A831. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked September 24, 2026