Judge rebuffs Trump administration over border wall funding
Source: Politico
The judge has not yet ruled on whether the Trump administration’s spending was illegal, solely that groups may press on with their suits challenging it.
By JOSH GERSTEIN
04/03/2020 12:11 AM EDT
A federal judge who dismissed a House lawsuit over President Donald Trump’s plan to fund his border wall has given the green light to a pair of suits environmental groups brought challenging the same funding scheme.
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden issued a ruling Thursday rejecting the Trump administration’s efforts to dismiss the suits, holding that some of the individuals and groups — including a Texas Indian tribe — have standing to pursue claims that the funding arrangement defied a provision in last year’s budget bill that sought to limit spending on border wall construction to just a fraction of what Trump sought.
McFadden, a Trump appointee, said a couple of passages in that bill — the Consolidated Appropriations Act — indicate Congress was trying to prevent environmental harms along the border. The judge said that language was sufficient to bestow standing on the groups pursuing the suits.
. . .
McFadden’s decision is notable because he concluded last June that the House lacked standing to use the courts to try to block the same disputed spending — part of an $8 billion plan Trump announced in February 2019, after winning just $1.375 billion from Congress for border wall spending in heated budget negotiations. Trump also declared a national emergency and argued that authorized some of the expenditures.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/03/judge-trump-border-wall-funding-162721
