District Court Judge Amir Ali had ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze the aid by 11:59 p.m. on February 26.

But after the Trump administration appealed his decision directly to the Supreme Court, the court put Ali's order on hold while they debated whether to hear arguments.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court decided against taking the Trump administration's appeal, and said that since the original court-ordered payment date has passed, they directed Ali to "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 $2 billion in aid was associated with the U.S. Agency for International Development, which Trump and co-President Elon Musk tried to stop just hours after he was sworn in on January 20.

The abrupt aid freeze risked allowing hundreds of millions of food that had already been purchased spoil and rot before it got to the impoverished people it was intended for.

The Supreme Court ruling, however, does not stop the Trump administration from shuttering USAID and stopping its work in the future.

Four conservative justices slammed the majority ruling, with Justice Samuel Alito writing, “Today, the Court makes a most unfortunate misstep that rewards an act of judicial hubris and imposes a $2 billion penalty on American taxpayers.”

“The fact that four justices nevertheless dissented—vigorously—from such a decision is a sign that the Court is going to be divided, perhaps along these exact lines, in many of the more impactful Trump-related cases that are already on their way,” CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladeck said.

Trump and Musk have effectively shut down USAID. The Trump administration said they plan to cancel nearly all of the agency’s contracts, and have either put on leave or laid off nearly the agency’s entire staff.

Experts say those moves will likely cause massive human suffering.

A March 4 memo from Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for global health at USAID, said that the pause on foreign aid “will lead to increased death and disability, accelerate global disease spread, contribute to destabilizing fragile regions, and heightened security risks—directly endangering American national security, economic stability, and public health.”

Enrich estimated that without USAID’s efforts to stop disease spread, there will be as many as 166,000 additional Malaria deaths, 28,000 more cases of the deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses, and 200,000 more paralytic polio cases annually.

Enrich was put on leave after his memo was leaked.