After demagogue and bigot Donald "Rump" Trump announced his false "emergency" over his vanity border wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for, sixteen states led by California have filed suit to overturn his emergency declaration and unconstitutional diversion of appropriated funds. The other states joining California in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Northern District of California yesterday, are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Virginia, and Michigan (pdf copy here). California's Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement:
“President Trump treats the rule of law with utter contempt. 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. He is willing to manipulate the Office of the Presidency to engage in unconstitutional theatre performed to convince his audience that he is committed to his ‘beautiful’ border wall....We’re suing President Trump to stop him from unilaterally robbing taxpayer funds lawfully set aside by Congress for the people of our states. For most of us, the Office of the Presidency is not a place for theatre.”Prior to the states' lawsuit, several landowners in Texas as well as environmental groups and the American Civil Liberties Union filed suits last Friday right after Rump's bizarre appearance in the Rose Garden in which he admitted that he "didn't need to do this," referring to wall construction. He said it was all about speeding up the pace in time for the 2020 elections.
With the efforts of these 16 states (and perhaps more to come) behind a challenge to Rump's power grab for political cover, we're hoping that courts can be convinced to see through the ludicrous argument that Rump's made and then undercut himself for his political agenda.
