Federal judge blocks Trump from using $2.5B in military funds for border wall
by Zachary Halaschak
| June 29, 2019 09:18 AM
A California federal judge issued a ruling blocking Trump from using $2.5 billion in military funds to build a wall along the southern border.
The Friday ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam, who is an appointee of former President Barack Obama, issued a permanent injunction after ruling last month to temporarily stop the administration’s use of the funds. The injunction stymies construction projects in California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, came in response to Trump's national emergency declaration transferring $6.7 billion in military funds to border wall construction. The injunction halted the use of funds meant for Defense Department counter-drug activities.
The matter is now expected to be quickly taken up by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
Gilliam also issued a ruling in a separate case, which stops the Trump administration from going forward with border wall construction in New Mexico and California pending that legal challenge.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/federal-judge-blocks-trump-from-using-2-5b-in-military-funds-for-border-wall