Federal judge in Texas blocks Trump from using military funds for border wall
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A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Trump from using Defense Department funds for the construction of his border wall.
Judge David Briones of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled in favor of El Paso County, Texas, and Border Network for Human Rights, which had argued Trump’s national emergency declaration using billions in Pentagon funds for the wall was an overreach.
The plaintiffs also accused the White House of using the funds for a situation that did not meet the bar for an “emergency” under the National Emergencies Act.
“The President’s emergency proclamation was a blatant attempt to grab power from Congress. Today’s order affirms that the President is not a king and that our courts are willing to check him when he oversteps his bounds,” Kristy Parker, counsel for Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan nonprofit which represented the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
Briones, a Clinton appointee, had previously ruled the county could bring the case because they had suffered reputational harm as a result of the funds diversion.
“After due consideration, the Court is of the opinion that a declaratory judgment and permanent injunction shall be granted in Plaintiffs’ favor,” he wrote in the Tuesday ruling.
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