No Defense Department Money for Border Wall, Court Orders -- Update
December 10 2019 - 9:04PM
Dow Jones News
By Alicia A. Caldwell
A federal judge in Texas has blocked the Trump administration
from using billions of dollars in funding from the Defense
Department to pay for construction of a long-promised wall on the
Mexican border.
U.S. District Judge David Briones issued an injunction blocking
the federal government from using $3.6 billion previously earmarked
for about 127 military construction projects to fund the wall, as
President Trump ordered under an emergency declaration earlier this
year. Judge Briones said the administration can only use $1.375
billion approved by Congress for the 2019 budget year for the
wall.
The case was filed by El Paso County and the advocacy group
Border Network for Human Rights in El Paso.
"The president's emergency proclamation was a blatant attempt to
grab power from Congress," said Kristy Parker, a lawyer for Protect
Democracy, which represented the plaintiffs. "Today's order affirms
that the president is not a king and that our courts are willing to
check him when he oversteps his bounds. This is a huge win for
democracy and the rule of law."
The Justice Department said it would appeal the ruling.
Mr. Trump declared a national emergency over border security in
February and at the time ordered agencies across the government to
identify military and other spending that could be diverted for the
wall project.
In July, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the
administration could move the military money to pay for wall
construction, a signature campaign promise that has yet to be
fulfilled.
In his ruling, Judge Briones, who was appointed by President
Clinton, said the permanent injunction didn't conflict with the
Supreme Court ruling because the high court ruled on whether the
defense secretary exceeded his authority to redirect military
construction funds, an issue he didn't take up in this case.
Write to Alicia A. Caldwell at Alicia.Caldwell@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 10, 2019 20:49 ET (01:49 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.