A federal appeals court ruled that a fast-moving fight over the Trump administration’s effort to block billions of dollars in foreign assistance approved by Congress can move forward as a large chunk of funds are set to expire.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit took action on Thursday evening to send the case back to a Washington judge to consider whether to halt the funding freeze on new legal grounds before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Approximately half of the $30 billion in foreign aid at stake is poised to expire after that date if the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development fail to commit to plans on how it can be spent, known as obligating.

The Justice Department has said that it needs certainty from U.S. courts on what it must do with the money by Sept. 2 in order to meet deadlines to notify Congress and negotiate agreements with foreign governments before the Sept. 30 cut-off.

The administration is likely to mount a renewed challenge to any future order that forces it to use money that President Donald Trump wants to cut. His administration has effectively shuttered USAID and dramatically scaled back assistance programs around the world.

A Justice Department spokesperson and lawyers for the challengers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The funding case will return to U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, who previously ruled that the administration’s refusal to spend money that Congress appropriated violated the Constitution’s separation of powers principles.

This time, several DC Circuit judges wrote in separate statements that Ali could consider whether the aid block was invalid for other reasons, including under a law that governs agency actions known as the Administrative Procedure Act.

The administration had won the last round of the case, when a divided three-judge DC Circuit ruled earlier this month that the lawsuits should be tossed out because the nonprofits and businesses that sued lacked any valid legal grounds. The opinion focused on Ali’s constitutional analysis.

But that decision didn’t immediately take effect. The challengers asked the full DC Circuit to reconsider the ruling. Meanwhile, the Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and make clear that Ali’s original injunction couldn’t be enforced, an order that would allow money to expire.

Part of the DC Circuit’s action on Thursday including releasing a revised version of the earlier opinion the government won that deleted language knocking out the possibility of other types of claims.

DC Circuit Judge Florence Pan, nominated by former President Joe Biden, wrote in a separate opinion that she continued to disagree with the majority’s earlier decision in favor of the administration. However, she wrote, this outcome “may be the most efficient way” for the challengers to try to save funds from expiring next month.

The full bench could also reconsider the constitutional question later on, she wrote.

The case is Global Health Council v. Trump, 25-5097, U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Circuit.

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