In his rush to secure America’s southern border from violent street gangs and deadly drugs, President Donald Trump is entreating the Supreme Court to allow the military to begin emergency construction on portions of a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, the Washington Times reports.
Thanks to a lower court ruling, construction crews must sit idle until a lawsuit is concluded exploring the legality of using funds earmarked for national defense to construct the wall. Trump is now asking the Supreme Court to streamline the process.
Trump has been vying for a wall and other border security measures since before he took office in January 2017, but so far, most of his attempts have been blocked by either the courts or Democrats in Congress.
Border brawl
Lawyers representing the Justice Department argue that the lawsuits against the wall should be dismissed because the plaintiffs lack the standing to bring the cases in the first place. But even if this technicality did not exist, Trump attorneys are confident that the administration acted within the law by shifting funds from the Pentagon to build the wall.
In February, the White House risked a partial government shutdown in an attempt to convince congressional Democrats to provide $6 billion in border security funds, Politico reported. After 35 days without a solution, the president agreed to reopen the government, accepting just $1.3 billion in general border security funding.
Soon after, Trump promised to divert funds from the Pentagon to pay for the wall, a campaign promise going back to 2015. The Department of Defense soon began siphoning money from lower priority programs to pay for the president’s project.
It didn’t take long for a California judge to block the president’s plans, however. According to NPR, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam sided with the plaintiffs in two separate suits, contending that the president exceeded his authority by $2.5 billion in military funding to build a southern border wall.
White House attorneys argue that the requested money is only available until the end of the fiscal year. As such, the Supreme Court must make a decision now to grant access to the allocated funds.
Presidential appeal
A federal appeals court has already upheld the California ruling putting a hold on the president’s border project. Meanwhile, the president’s critics have stepped up attacks on his military project since the lawsuits have advanced through the system.
Vicki B. Gaubeca, executive director of the anti-wall Southern Border Communities Coalition, challenged the president’s appeal.
“Trump’s obsession with building his dangerous and deadly wall using illegally diverted military funds is a complete disregard for the checks and balances that are integral to our democracy,” she said, according to the Washingon Times.
But despite what Gaubeca and congressional Democrats may think, it is the Supreme Court that will decide whether or not the POTUS has the legal authority to apply defense to police the southern border. And given the consequences, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
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