US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has temporarily supported the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid payments, as the administration faces a midnight deadline to pay contractors.

The Trump administration has taken swift action to end many aid programs, largely run by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and placed most of its staff on administrative leave or sacked them.

The freeze comes as the administration carries out a review of foreign aid funding.

The cutbacks to USAID have already upended the global aid system, with hundreds of programs frozen in countries around the world since the president announced his intentions in January.