Written on 29 June 2020.

Court: Trump administration can't use military funds for border wall construction | Dump Trucks Charlotte NC

Columbus Ohio Dump Truck Company Brief:

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that President Donald Trump cannot divert $2.5 billion of military funds to use in the construction of wall projects at the U.S.

-Mexico border.

The federal appeals court upheld a district court judge's ruling that found the Trump administration's transfer of money from the Pentagon to border wall construction constituted an attempt to skirt Congress, which would not authorize the billions of dollars the president wanted for the initiative. Even though the administration transferred the funds, originally intended for counter-narcotics operations, under the president's declaration of a national emergency, the appeals court said the action was a violation of the Appropriations Clause and "unlawful."

U.S. Circuit Court Judge Haywood Gilliam, the judge who made the original ruling, also placed a permanent injunction on the administration that was supposed to prevent it from using the disputed funds on border wall construction, but the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the injunction and allowed columbus oh dump truck company to continue. That order, according to a report from CNN, is still in effect.

Dump Trucks Columbus OH Insight:

Despite the bigger issues of who gets to approve border wall funding or what decisions the president can make under a national emergency, the Supreme Court's favorable decision toward the Trump administration last year was based on the likelihood that the plaintiff in the case, the Sierra Club, did not have standing to bring a legal action that would ultimately force a review of the Acting Defense Secretary's decision to transfer military funds for other use at the border.

As part of the appeals decision, the court found that the Sierra Club did have standing for the following reasons:

Its members would be injured by border wall construction due to the damage it would do to wildlife and natural habitats.
It would limit member access to certain areas and cause other damage.
The injuries are "fairly traceable" to the defendants.
The injuries are "likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision."

Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration was making plans to transfer another $7.2 billion of military funds for border wall construction in addition to the $6.1 billion it carved out for the wall initiative in 2019. The $7.2 billion will come from counter-narcotics programs ($3.5 billion) and military construction projects ($3.7 billion).