New York, California Sue Trump Over National Emergency On Border Wall

A lawsuit was filed by 16 states, including California, to challenge President Donald Trump’s plan to build his border wall by using his emergency powers and spending billions of dollars.

The president made an announcement Friday that he will bypass Congress after the house rejected the approval of $5.7 billion to build the wall. This president’s declaration came after signing a bill preventing another government shutdown. The proposed legislation only granted him $1.37 billion for his planned border wall.

In an interview on Monday by MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said, "The president admitted that there's not a basis for the declaration. He admitted there's no crisis at the border. He's now trying to rob funds that were allocated by Congress legally to the various states and people of our states."

Becerra, who pledged to "to reject this foolish proposal in court the moment it touches the ground," also said that while Trump has "broad authority," he does not have power over the constitution.

Filing the lawsuit together with California are: Connecticut, Hawaii, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Minnesota, Michigan, Virginia, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Maine, New Jersey, and New York. Most of these states, excluding Maryland are being run by Democrats.

The lawsuit was proposed by the states to protect their economic interests, considering the millions of dollars that would be spent once the president’s border wall plan pushes through.

The President’s Declaration of the State Emergency

The National Emergencies Act provides the president special powers for national crisis. This allows him to effectively bypass the normal political process and divert money from military or even disaster funds. However, the act also has a clause that would allow the Congress to stop an emergency status if both legislative houses would agree.

With his declaration, the President was expecting the lawsuit which he thinks would eventually end up with the Supreme Court’s decision.

“We will have a national emergency, and we will then be sued. And they will sue us in the Ninth Circuit, even though it shouldn't be there,” Mr. Trump said.

"And we'll possibly get a bad ruling and then we'll get another bad ruling and then we'll end up the Supreme Court, and then hopefully we'll get a fair shake and we'll win in the Supreme Court, just like the ban."

The White House has not provided any comment in regards to the lawsuit.