The Ninth Circuit on Friday ruled that President Donald Trump’s allocation of military funds for construction of his border wall was illegal, upholding a December 2019 ruling from a federal judge.
In 2019, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam "granted summary judgment to a slew of states and advocacy groups seeking to halt construction of the southern border wall," according to Courthouse News Service. After congress gave Trump $1.3 billion instead of his requested $5.7 billion for border wall funding, the president invoked the National Emergencies Act to declare an emergency at the southern border.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that over $3 billion reserved for construction projects within the military would instead go to border wall construction sites in four different states.
Ruling 2-1, the Ninth Circuit panel found that the diversion of funds to be unlawful and sidestepped the constitutional separation of powers, including the legislative branch’s control of funding. The court rejected the federal government’s interpretation of the National Emergencies Act that would allow them to build the wall under “other activities.”
The Ninth Circuit decision lifts a stay on the federal court’s order, putting an immediate stop to all border wall construction.
