Constitutional challenge pits president’s emergency declaration against Congress’s power of the purse.
By Spencer S. Hsu Spencer S. Hsu Investigative reporter Email Bio Follow May 23 at 11:37 AM Lawyers for the Democratic-led House and the Trump Justice Department are meeting in federal court Thursday regarding whether a judge should block construction of President Trump’s border wall in a test of his national emergency declaration and Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.
The fight comes as Trump has declared blanket defiance of congressional oversight investigations of his administration, finances and possible obstruction of a Russia inquiry by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, telling reporters, “We’re fighting all the subpoenas,” and, “These aren’t, like, impartial people. The Democrats are trying to win 2020.” The pushback also has included court battles.
Justice Department lawyers have urged U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the District not to block construction pending the outcome of the lawsuit, saying an injunction would “harm the Executive’s strong interest in border security and enforcement of counter-drug and immigration laws.” McFadden is a 2017 Trump appointee who served briefly as a senior Justice Department official.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General James M. Burnham said Friday in Oakland federal court, in the first border wall lawsuit to reach a hearing, that to prevent additional money from going toward building the wall, Congress needed to have explicitly said that “no money shall be obligated” in any form to construct a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, but that it never did.
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