The US Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration on Friday to freeze for now more than $4 billion in foreign assistance appropriated by Congress.

The conservative-dominated  court said upholding the president's authority to conduct foreign affairs appears to "outweigh the potential harm" faced by the intended recipients of the aid money.

The court said its emergency order was not a final determination on the merits of the case but it allows for a temporary freeze on disbursement of the funds while the case continues in lower courts.

The three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Elena Kagan saying the stakes in the case are "high."

"At issue is the allocation of power between the Executive and Congress over the expenditure of public monies," Kagan said.

But Friday's emergency order was issued with "scant briefing, no oral argument, and no opportunity to deliberate in conference," she added.

The effect of the decision, Kagan said, "is to allow the Executive to cease obligating $4 billion in funds that Congress appropriated for foreign aid, and that will now never reach its intended recipients.

"Because that result conflicts with the separation of powers, I respectfully dissent," she said.

President Donald Trump, since taking office in January, has sought to exert greater control over federal spending and tasked Elon Musk, the world's richest person, with downsizing swaths of the US government.

Among the chief targets was USAID, the primary organization for distributing US humanitarian aid around the world, with health and emergency programs in some 120 countries.