Background

The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 explicitly prohibits presidents from withholding congressionally appropriated funds for ideological reasons. This law was enacted in response to President Nixon's attempts to impound funds and has been consistently upheld by courts. In the landmark case Train v. City of New York (1975), the Supreme Court ruled against presidential impoundment powers, reinforcing Congress's constitutional "power of the purse."

Resolution Criteria

This market will resolve YES if:

• A federal court issues a ruling that explicitly strikes down or blocks Trump's attempt to withhold congressionally appropriated funds through impoundment

• The Supreme Court upholds such a lower court ruling or directly rules against Trump's impoundment attempt

This market will resolve NO if:

• Courts uphold Trump's authority to impound funds

• No court challenge is filed against the impoundment attempt

Resolves N/A if

• Trump does not actually attempt to impound funds during his term

Considerations

• Legal precedent strongly suggests courts would strike down impoundment attempts, as no Supreme Court has ever ruled in favor of broad presidential impoundment powers

• The market assumes Trump wins the 2024 presidential election. If he does not win, the market should still resolve based on any impoundment attempts he makes before January 20, 2025

• Multiple court challenges may be filed in different jurisdictions. A ruling from any federal court that strikes down the impoundment attempt would be sufficient for a YES resolution

• Update 2025-01-29 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - A federal court rules against it and there is no further appeal.

  • Otherwise, resolves based on SCOTUS.