A federal judge has blocked President Trump from diverting Pentagon funds from various military projects toward building a wall on the United States’s southern border.
Judge David Briones of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued the block in response to a lawsuit by El Paso County, Texas, and the Border Network for Human Rights.
“The President’s emergency proclamation was a blatant attempt to grab power from Congress. Today’s order affirms that the President is not a king and that our courts are willing to check him when he oversteps his bounds,” Kristy Parker, an attorney for the litigants, said in a statement.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper approved $3.6 billion in Pentagon funds to be diverted from other military projects toward construction of the border wall in September. Half the money allotted came from overseas projects and the other half from projects in the U.S.
El Paso County and the Border Network of Human Rights sued the Trump administration, saying the emergency order issued by Trump to access the funds violated the National Emergencies Act.
Congress has allotted Trump $1.375 billion to build part of the border wall.
