Court: Trump’s use of military funds to build border wall is illegal

President Donald Trump’s transfer last year of $2.5 billion in military funds to pay for border wall construction was an illegal overreach of executive authority, a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled Friday.

The 2-1 ruling was a setback to the president’s increasing reliance on the Pentagon to finance hundreds of miles of new barrier along the Mexico border. Its long-term implications were less certain, as the Supreme Court ruled in Trump’s favor in a similar case last year and Friday’s decision only affects a portion of the funds the White House has budgeted for what has become one of the largest federal infrastructure projects in U.S. history.

The president, who ran for office in 2016 promising that Mexico would pay for the border wall, has obtained more than $15 billion in U.S. federal funds for his signature project, including $5 billion provided by Congress through conventional appropriations. The president has tapped into Pentagon

accounts for the remaining $10 billion, including the $2.5 billion transfer last year that the 9th Circuit said Friday was unlawful.

Some of those funds already have been awarded as contracts to the private builders hired to construct the barrier. In its ruling, the court said the White House “lacked independent constitutional authority to authorize the transfer of funds” from the military.

“The panel noted that the Appropriations Clause of the U.S. Constitution exclusively grants the power of the purse to Congress,” the judges ruled. “The panel held that the transfer of funds violated the Appropriations Clause, and, therefore, was unlawful.”

The Department of Homeland Security, a defendant in the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees construction of the barrier, did not immediately respond to questions about the financial impact of the ruling on work currently underway.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal Friday’s ruling to the Supreme Court.

Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images President Donald Trump signs a plaque commemorating the 200th mile of border wall at the international border with Mexico in San Luis, Ariz., on Tuesday. A federal appeals court Friday ruled against the Trump administration in its transfer of military money to build sections of the wall with Mexico.