The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Conn. among states in suit against Trump’s emergency wall declaration
Sixteen states including Connecticut, California and New York filed a lawsuit Monday against President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.Mexico border.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong issued a statement Monday — Presidents Day — calling Trump’s declaration “the ruse of a national emergency to launch an endrun around the legislative process.”
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in California, seeks an injunction to stop Trump;’s administration from using more than $6 billion from the Pentagon and other sources to build the wall.
“The President has left us no choice but to take legal action to protect the people of Connecticut and the rule of law,” Tong said in a written statement. “He did not have to do this — he said that himself right before leaving for a weekend of golf. There is no national emergency. What we have is a President hell-bent on fulfilling a campaign promise motivated by racism and hate, and willing to trample on our Constitution to achieve that.”
Protests against the declaration erupted in cities across the country Monday, including one in Norwalk that attracted about 60 people.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra led the lawsuit, which was also joined by attorneys general from Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia.
At least two private groups had already filed lawsuits aiming to halt the spending, Politico reported Monday, including Public Citizen, acting on behalf of a wildlife preservation group in Texas.
“President Trump treats the rule of law with utter contempt,” Becerra said. “He knows there is no border crisis, he knows his emergency declaration is unwarranted, and he admits that he will likely lose this case in court.”
The move allows the Trump to bypass Congress to use the money.
Tong had issued a sharply worded statement Friday, saying he was part of the lawsuit effort. “There is no credible evidence to suggest that a border wall would decrease crime rates,” Tong said in the statement Monday.