The federal government does not have to continue making foreign aid payments, a US appeals court has ruled in a major victory for President Donald Trump. The ruling reverses a lower court judgment that said the Trump administration had to restore billions of dollars in foreign aid that had already been approved by Congress.

A divided panel of appeals court judges says the Trump administration can suspend or terminate billions of dollars of congressionally appropriated funding for foreign aid.

Only the legislative branch can sue a presidential administration for making changes to congressionally approved budgets, the federal appeals court in DC ruled after looking at President Donald Trump’s administration ending planned grants for foreign aid.