16 US states sue Trump over emergency

▶ Unprecedented lawsuit filed in California, likely to end at Supreme Court

Sixteen US states sued President Donald Trump’s administration Monday over his decision to declare a national emergency to fund a wall on the southern border with Mexico, saying the move violated the constitution.

Trump announced the emergency Friday in order to bypass Congress, which approved only a quarter of the $5.6 billion he wanted for the wall in a spending bill.

But the lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California, said the president’s order was contrary to the constitution’s presentment and appropriations clauses, which outline legislative procedures and define Congress as the final arbiter of public funds, respectively.

The move had already been announced by Xavier Becerra, the attorney general of California, who said Sunday his state and others had legal standing because they risked losing money intended for military projects, disaster assistance and other purposes.

Critics, including Republican senators, warned Trump has opened the door for future presidents to call on the act whenever they fail to get their way with Congress.

Should the states prevail, the case could work its way up to the Supreme Court, setting up a precedent-setting showdown on the separation of powers.

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Virginia are party to the complaint seeking an injunction.

The states “bring this action to protect their residents, natural resources, and economic interests from President Trump’s flagrant disregard of fundamental separation of powers principles engrained in the United States Constitution,” the complaint said.

It added that Trump had veered the country toward a “constitutional crisis of his own making.”

“Congress has repeatedly rebuffed the president’s insistence to fund a border wall, recently resulting in a record 35-day partial government shutdown over the border wall dispute,” it said.

“After the government reopened, Congress approved, and the president signed into law, a $1.375 billion appropriation for fencing along the southern border, but Congress made clear that funding could not be used to build President Trump’s proposed border wall.”