California Slaps Trump With Lawsuit Blocking The Construction Of His Border Wall

The state of California has taken the lead in blocking Trump’s unpopular wall by filing a federal lawsuit against its construction.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/20/california-sues-trump-border-wall-242923

The lawsuit set to be filed in federal court in San Diego will argue that the effort violates federal law and the Constitution by intruding on state authority, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said.

“They’re violating the Tenth Amendment and infringing on a lot of state laws, not just federal laws, that effect our state. At the same time, they’re trying to do something that only Congress can do,” Becerra told journalists in Washington in advance of an official announcement he plans to make in San Diego Wednesday.

The Trump administration is trying to declare the wall an emergency to avoid environmental reviews and the federal contracting process. Trump has already lost using the emergency argument in court on the issue of his Muslim ban. California is presenting a solid argument based on the Tenth Amendment. Property rights issues have been tying up the courts for decades, and theoretically, if states and individuals want to argue both personal property rights and that Trump is violating states’ rights, they could probably keep his wall tied up for years.

Republicans who cheered this tactic when it was used against Obama have no room to talk now that is being deployed challenge Trump.

Mexico isn’t paying for the wall, and if California wins their lawsuit, it may never see the light of day.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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