吃瓜大本营

WASHINGTON 鈥� The American Civil Liberties Union today asked the Supreme Court to halt construction of President Trump鈥檚 border wall. In a filed on behalf of the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition, the ACLU is urging the court to lift an earlier stay that allowed the Trump administration to divert $2.5 billion from military pay and pension funds for border wall construction that Congress explicitly denied. The Trump administration has continued building the border wall despite lower court orders blocking the construction and ruling it illegal.

鈥淭he Trump administration has lost in every lower court, but is still rushing to complete the president鈥檚 border wall before the Supreme Court can review the merits of this case. If the administration succeeds, there will be no border wall construction left to stop by the time the Supreme Court hears this case,鈥� said Dror Ladin, staff attorney with the ACLU鈥檚 National Security Project. 鈥淲e鈥檙e asking the Supreme Court to join the lower courts and put a stop to the president鈥檚 destructive wall obsession before it鈥檚 too late.鈥�

The latest move comes in a lawsuit, Sierra Club v. Trump, filed by the ACLU on behalf of the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition. The groups are asking the Supreme Court to block the ongoing construction as the underlying case proceeds before the court. As the Sierra Club and SBCC have long warned would happen, construction of President Trump鈥檚 border wall is desecrating ancestral and burial lands, destroying protected landscapes, and threatening wildlife.

鈥淭he Supreme Court must step in and stop the Trump administration鈥檚 unconstitutional border wall construction. Misusing military funds has resulted in construction projects that are destroying irreparable and sacred tribal lands, decimating habitat and wildlife refuges, and forever scarring borderland communities. It is past time to halt this wasteful and irreversible damage,鈥� said Gloria Smith, managing attorney at the Sierra Club.

In the case, the district court last year and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last month ruled that President Trump鈥檚 attempt to circumvent Congress and transfer $2.5 billion in military pay and pension funds for border wall construction is unlawful. The district court blocked the illegal wall construction, an order that the Ninth Circuit last month affirmed. However, because of an earlier Supreme Court stay on the district court鈥檚 order, the Trump administration has continued construction using funds unauthorized by Congress, promising to complete the illegal construction by the end of 2020.

The Supreme Court has the ultimate outcome of the case, and every lower federal court that has considered the issue has held that Trump鈥檚 border wall illegally circumvents Congress鈥檚 deliberate decision not to fund the construction. No court has suggested that the Sierra Club and SBCC do not face real injuries from Trump鈥檚 actions.

The Trump administration maintains that no injured party 鈥� not the ACLU鈥檚 clients, not affected states, and not even Congress 鈥� can go to court to challenge the administration鈥檚 actions. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals forcefully rejected that argument last month, warning that 鈥渢his is a rare case in which the judiciary may have to intervene in determining where the authority lies as between the democratic forces in

our scheme of government.鈥� The court concluded that Congress 鈥渄eclined to provide additional funding for projects in other areas, and it declined to provide the full $5.7 billion sought by the President: it is for the courts to enforce Congress鈥檚 priorities, and we do so here.鈥�

The motion is here: