At least two lawsuits have been filed to stop President Donald Trump’s national emergency order to secure funding for a wall along the southern border with Mexico.
The national emergency order will free up $8 billion to approve funding for 234 miles of the bollard style wall.
Public Citizen, a liberal advocacy group, filed their lawsuit just hours after Trump’s announcement on Friday. They claim that Trump exceeded his powers by declaring an emergency.
“The president has no inherent authority to declare emergencies to override appropriations laws and other laws enacted by Congress; his emergency powers are defined and limited by statute,” the lawsuit states. “Because no national emergency exists with respect to immigration across the southern border, the President’s Declaration exceeds the limited authority delegated to the President.”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington also filed a lawsuit against the emergency order. They claim that Trump’s administration didn’t show the legal authority of his national order by refusing to show documents requested that included communications from the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense over whether Trump had the authority to declare an emergency to build a wall.
“Americans deserve to know the true basis for President Trump’s unprecedented decision to enact emergency powers to pay for a border wall,” CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement. “We’re suing because the government has so far failed to produce the requested documents or provide an explanation for their delay.”
There looks to be many other lawsuits underway. Several different organizations have already pledged to fight this matter in court.
The American Civil Liberties Union, for example, said on Friday that it planned to file a lawsuit to challenge Trump’s use of his executive powers to go around Congress. The organization said that no other president has tried to use emergency powers to fund a project.
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