Courts

WALL Is Back On Hold

Federal judge blocks Trump's WALL, this time on national emergency grounds.

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(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

When my kids were younger, the older one used to build these Duplo towers. And then his younger brother would toddle by and knock the tower down. And then the older one would build it back up again. And the cycle would continue until one of them hit the other and the victim would come crying to me. And I’d tell them to figure it out, and eventually we’d all go to bed.

That story seems relevant to today’s news.

A federal judge in El Paso blocked Donald Trump’s construction on WALL. Previous cases have focused on Trump’s attempt to unconstitutionally usurp the appropriations power from Congress. Currently, John Roberts is letting Trump steal money, perhaps because he agrees, perhaps because he thinks the Democratic nominee will eventually beat Trump and resolve the issue for him. Who knows.

But the El Paso case is proceeding on statutory grounds, not Constitutional ones. The judge found that Trump was in violation of the National Emergencies Act, because his declaration of a national emergence is fake, and Trump admitted it was fake when he opined that he was declaring a national emergency to get WALL more quickly.

From Protect Democracy, which represented the plaintiffs in this case:

Today, a Texas federal court ruled that President Trump’s proclamation of a national emergency along the Southern border violated federal law. The court declared that the president’s proclamation is invalid because it illegally sought to override Congress’s decision to not fund further border wall construction. The court invited the plaintiffs, El Paso County, Texas, and the Border Network for Human Rights to propose terms for an injunction that would prevent the government from using funds to build border barriers that Congress specifically refused to authorize…

In this case, the plaintiffs argued that the president’s national emergency declaration exceeded his powers both under statutory law and the Constitution, and that its mere issuance injured border communities. The court based its ruling on statutory grounds and did not reach the constitutional issues. As detailed in their complaint, President Trump declared the emergency after months of failed attempts to obtain additional funding for his border wall culminated in the longest U.S. government shutdown in history. He publicly acknowledged that there was no urgency, saying “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.” The administration then moved to transfer $8.1 billion for border wall construction efforts – $6.7 billion more than the $1.375 billion approved by Congress.

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When reached for comment, WALL audibly groaned a sigh of frustration from the existential plane: “No injunction can arrest my erection upon your lands. Soon, very soon, you will see your Circuit of Five cast out your puny guard rails of statutory interpretation, and cower before a mighty stay. For your President sayeth WALL is already thus, and thus WALL must be.”

It’s almost bedtime. I’m sure John Roberts will clean up the bricks in the morning.

BREAKING: Judge Will Block Trump Border Wall in New Ruling [Protect Democracy]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and a contributor at The Nation. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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