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A federal judge temporarily blocked Friday a portion of President Donald Trump's efforts to use money intended for military purposes to finance the construction of a wall along the country's southern border with Mexico . But this decision was far from being the last word in the matter, Trump stating Saturday to intend to appeal the decision.
Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr., of the US District Court, granted a preliminary injunction (see the full 56-page document at the bottom of this story) on Friday night, temporarily blocking Trump's administration from using the money to build the wall that Congress did not have appropriate for this purpose.
"It is not a question of whether the construction plan of the disputed border fence is wise or not, it is not a question of whether the plan constitutes the correct or false political response to the existing conditions to be met. the southern border of the United States, "wrote Gilliam. "On the contrary, this case raises strictly legal questions as to whether the proposed plan to fund the construction of border gates exceeds the legitimate authority of the Executive under the Constitution and". a number of laws duly passed by Congress. "
The judge concluded that the "absolute" control "of the Congress on federal spending – even when this control can counteract the executive's desires with regard to the initiatives that it considers important – is not a bug of our constitutional system, it is a characteristic, and an essential one. "
He wrote that the Trump administration's position that "when Congress rejects the executive's request to allocate funds, the executive could simply find a way to spend these fund "without the Congress" does not go against the principles of separation of fundamental powers that date back to the early days of our republic "
The injunction currently has only an impact of about one billion dollars on funds that the Department of Defense has levied on army personnel and transferred to the Department. of internal security. In addition, the injunction only concerns construction projects in the Yuma area in Arizona and in the El Paso area in West Texas.
The injunction does not imply the extra billions of dollars that Trump asked the Pentagon for when he issued an emergency statement in February. These funds are expected to come from military construction projects, but no amount has yet been transferred for the construction of border walls. Gilliam will decide on this funding issue at a later date.
Trump declared the national emergency after ending a 35-day government shutdown – the longest in US history – without receiving the billions of dollars he had asked Congress. Legislators have, however, provided the president with $ 1.571 billion for border fence in specific areas, but provided that any new fence uses the designs already in place in 2017, thus preventing Trump from using the money. to build the wall as he had long described. he.
In a footnote to Friday's ruling, Gilliam said the $ 1.571 billion had been used so far only to build "1.7 mile fence".
"This statement tends to undermine the defendants' assertion that irreparable harm would be caused if the funds involved in this motion are not deployed immediately," wrote Gilliam.
What are we doing now?
Although Judge Gilliam has set June 5 as the date on which all parties must meet and "discuss a plan to quickly resolve this case on the merits, whether through a trial , of an application for summary judgment for summary judgment or by other means ", it is highly unlikely the dispute is about to be the subject of a lawsuit or any other. a settlement in the near future
In all likelihood, the Department of Justice should appeal this case, particularly to the extent that a borough court judge declares what is actually an injunction at the national level .
In fact, President Trump tweeted Saturday afternoon, during his visit to Japan, his intention to appeal the decision.
"Another activist appointed by Obama, a judge has just ruled against us on a section of the South Wall that is already under construction.This is a decision against border security and in favor of the crime. , drug trafficking and human trafficking, we are calling for an expedited appeal! " writes the president.
While the Department of Justice is not commenting on when or when it plans to appeal, Attorney General William Barr has made it clear – no later than this week – that he "s sure he 's not going to go back. opposed to judges who grant far-reaching injunctions.
National injunctions, Barr said Tuesday at the American Law Institute, "thwarted presidential politics for most of the president's term without a clear prospect in sight." He also accused the judges who pronounced these injunctions of[ing] the courts in the political process ".
Given the attitude of Barr and the administration with regard to what they consider to be a judicial excess, there is no doubt that Gilliam's injunction will be appealed to the Ninth Circuit, a court Trump had publicly ridiculed for having ruled against him.
Even if the GM succeeds on appeal, the organizations behind the underlying lawsuit – the American Civil Liberties Union and the Sierra Club – have always shown little reserve as to the possibility of bringing their disputes to the Supreme Court of Canada. United States.
Neither organization has yet to respond directly to NewsweekThe questions of knowing up to where they are ready to lead this particular battle.
Beyond the call, there are still legal issues to be resolved if and when the Trump administration tries to use its urgency to transfer additional funds from the Pentagon for the purpose. to build the wall.
In an e-mailed statement, Dror Ladin, an advocate of the ACLU's National Security Project, said, "The court has blocked all the wall projects currently planned for immediate construction.If the administration begins to illegally divert additional military funds, we will be back court to block that too. "
And, again, if an injunction is granted in this case, there will be appeals and possibly appeals until the Supreme Court decides whether or not to participate.
This story has been updated to include a statement by President Trump that he plans to appeal Gilliam's decision.
Below, the full injunction granted Friday by Judge Gilliam:
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