{"id":13944,"date":"2019-02-16T13:57:06","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T18:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=13944"},"modified":"2019-02-16T13:57:06","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T18:57:06","slug":"mexico-border-wall-trump-faces-fight-in-the-courts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2019\/02\/16\/mexico-border-wall-trump-faces-fight-in-the-courts\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico border wall: Trump faces fight in the courts"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Trump faces legal challenges to his decision to use emergency powers to build a wall on the US border with Mexico.<\/p>\n

California and New York said they would take legal action to challenge his move to bypass Congress and secure funding for the project.<\/p>\n

Building the wall was a key pledge of Mr Trump’s campaign.<\/p>\n

Democrats said it was a “gross abuse of power” and vowed to contest it “using every remedy available”.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Mr Trump signed the emergency declaration along with a spending bill aimed at preventing a repeat of a recent government shutdown.<\/p>\n

Declaring an emergency could give him access to billions of dollars. Mr Trump announced the plan after Congress refused funding for the wall.<\/p>\n

Within hours, the first legal challenge against the declaration of national emergency was launched.<\/p>\n

A liberal advocacy group, Public Citizen, sued on behalf of a nature reserve and three Texas landowners who have been told the wall may be constructed on their properties.<\/p>\n

How have Democrats responded?<\/h2>\n

Governor Gavin Newsom of California dismissed the president’s decision as “political theatre”.<\/p>\n

“He’s been embarrassed, and his base needs to be fed,” he told reporters.<\/p>\n

“Fortunately, Donald Trump is not the last word. The courts will be the last word,” he added.<\/p>\n

New York state’s Democratic attorney general, Letitia James, said the state would not “stand for this abuse of power and will fight back with every legal tool at our disposal.”<\/p>\n

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said it would file a lawsuit in the coming days<\/a>\u00a0to curb “this blatantly illegal executive action”.<\/p>\n

On Friday the two most senior Democrats – House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer – said they would challenge the “power grab by a disappointed president” in Congress and in the courts.<\/p>\n

Ms Pelosi also seized on a remark by Mr Trump in response to a question from a reporter, in which he said he “didn’t need to do this”.<\/p>\n

Analysts suggest that this remark could undermine Mr Trump’s case that the country is facing an emergency.<\/p>\n

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Anthony Zurcher<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2714<\/b><\/span><\/span>@awzurcher<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It didn\u2019t take Nancy Pelosi long to pick up on that line. I imagine we\u2019ll see it in a court brief soon.<\/p>\n

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Nancy Pelosi<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2714<\/b><\/span><\/span>@TeamPelosi<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He admits it’s a #<\/span>FakeTrumpEmergency<\/span>. Hear him say it: “I *didn\u2019t need* to do this, but I\u2019d rather do it much faster.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What did Mr Trump say?<\/h2>\n

Making the announcement in the White House Rose Garden, the president said the emergency would allow him to get almost $8bn for the wall.<\/p>\n

This is still considerably short of the estimated $23bn cost of the wall along almost 2,000 miles (3,200km) of border.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump accepted that he would be sued for the move, and predicted that the emergency order would lead to legal action which was likely to end up in the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Everyone knows that walls work.”<\/p>\n

Later, Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, told reporters that Mr Trump’s move “creates zero precedent”.<\/p>\n

“This is authority given to the president in law already. It’s not as if he just didn’t get what he wanted so he’s waving a magic wand and taking a bunch of money,” he said.<\/p>\n

Can Congress stop Trump’s emergency move?<\/h2>\n

The National Emergencies Act contains a clause that allows Congress to terminate the emergency status if both houses vote for it – and the president does not veto.<\/p>\n

With a comfortable majority in the House, Democrats could pass such a resolution to the Senate. The Republicans control the Senate, but a number of Republican senators have been vocal in their unease about the president invoking a national emergency.<\/p>\n

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The dissenting Republicans include 2012 presidential contender and new senator for Utah Mitt Romney, Florida senator Marco Rubio, and the senator from Maine Susan Collins, who said the move was of “dubious constitutionality”.<\/p>\n

The resolution would however still require Mr Trump’s signature to pass, allowing him to veto it. A supermajority in both houses of Congress is needed to overturn a presidential veto.<\/p>\n

What is a national emergency?<\/h2>\n

The National Emergencies Act is intended for times of national crisis. Mr Trump has claimed that there is a migration crisis at the nation’s southern border – a claim strongly refuted by migration experts.<\/p>\n