Judge rebuffs Trump administration over border wall funding
Source: Politico
The judge has not yet ruled on whether the Trump administrations spending was illegal, solely that groups may press on with their suits challenging it.
By JOSH GERSTEIN
04/03/2020 12:11 AM EDT
A federal judge who dismissed a House lawsuit over President Donald Trumps plan to fund his border wall has given the green light to a pair of suits environmental groups brought challenging the same funding scheme.
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden issued a ruling Thursday rejecting the Trump administrations efforts to dismiss the suits, holding that some of the individuals and groups including a Texas Indian tribe have standing to pursue claims that the funding arrangement defied a provision in last years budget bill that sought to limit spending on border wall construction to just a fraction of what Trump sought.
McFadden, a Trump appointee, said a couple of passages in that bill the Consolidated Appropriations Act indicate Congress was trying to prevent environmental harms along the border. The judge said that language was sufficient to bestow standing on the groups pursuing the suits.
. . .
McFaddens decision is notable because he concluded last June that the House lacked standing to use the courts to try to block the same disputed spending part of an $8 billion plan Trump announced in February 2019, after winning just $1.375 billion from Congress for border wall spending in heated budget negotiations. Trump also declared a national emergency and argued that authorized some of the expenditures.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/03/judge-trump-border-wall-funding-162721