ÌÒ×ÓÊÓÆµto Challenge National Emergency Declaration
NEW YORK — The ÌÒ×ÓÊÓÆµ today announced that it will file a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s emergency powers declaration to secure funds to build a wall along the southern border.
ÌÒ×ÓÊÓÆµExecutive Director Anthony Romero issued the following statement:
“By the president’s very own admission in the Rose Garden, there is no national emergency. He just grew impatient and frustrated with Congress, and decided to move along his promise for a border wall ‘faster.’ This is a patently illegal power grab that hurts American communities and flouts the checks and balances that are hallmarks of our democracy. We will be filing a lawsuit early next week. As the country’s premier defender of civil liberties and civil rights, the ÌÒ×ÓÊÓÆµwill always fight to ensure a robust system of checks and balances on the power of the executive, which is critical to safeguarding our democracy and defending rights.â€�
The ÌÒ×ÓÊÓÆµwill argue that President Trump’s use of emergency powers to evade Congressional funding restrictions is unprecedented and that 10 U.S.C. § 2808, the emergency power that Trump has invoked, cannot be used to build a border wall. Congress restricted the use of that power to military construction projects, like overseas military airfields in wartime, that “are necessary to supportâ€� the emergency use of armed forces.
“The Constitution assigns Congress the power of the purse, and no prior president has ever tried to use emergency powers to fund a chosen project — particularly a permanent, large-scale domestic project such as this — against congressional will. This is obviously improper,� added Dror Ladin, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project.
Additional details about the organization’s lawsuit will be available early next week.