U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court lifts injunction that had blocked military funding for border wall
U.S.-Mexico border fence in Texas. Image from Shutterstock.com.
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction Friday that had blocked President Donald Trump from using $2.5 billion in military funds to build part of the border wall.
The court lifted the injunction in a one-paragraph, unsigned order, report the New York Times, the Washington Post and the National Law Journal. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, while Justice Stephen G. Breyer would have offered a compromise.A federal judge in Oakland, California, had granted the injunction, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco allowed the injunction to remain in place. The Trump administration had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to act in an emergency filing.
The litigation continues in the lower courts.
The five justices in the Supreme court majority said the government had made “a sufficient showing at this stage that the plaintiffs have no cause of action to obtain review.”
Breyer said the case “raises novel and important questions about the ability of private parties to enforce Congress’ appropriations power.”
Breyer said either side in the litigation could be irreparably harmed, depending on the court’s stay decision. He would have allowed the government to finalize border wall contracts but not to begin construction.
The lawsuit challenging Trump’s use of funds was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition.
The ACLU plans to ask the 9th Circuit to expedite the case in ongoing appeals.
Trump tweeted that the Supreme Court order was a “Big WIN for Border Security and the Rule of Law!”
The U.S. House of Representatives has filed a separate suit over the administration’s use of unappropriated funds to build the wall. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled in June that he has no jurisdiction to enter the fight.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “House sues to block Trump's use of funds for border wall”
