The Supreme Court declined on Friday to stop the Trump administration from constructing parts of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The 5-4 decision on ideological lines is a loss to environmental groups, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, who asked the high court to revisit its decision last year to block an injunction that would halt the construction after a panel of judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision in June that President Trump unlawfully obtained funding by diverting money from the military.
The high court’s four liberal justices dissented, saying construction be put to a stop while legal challenges play out. “The Court’s decision to let construction continue nevertheless I fear, may operate, in effect, as a final judgment,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in a dissent.
Trump declared a national emergency last year to use the funds as part of an attempt to fulfill a central 2016 campaign promise on immigration. This legal challenge centers on the Trump administration reallocating $2.5 billion approved by Congress for the Pentagon’s budget toward building portions of the wall along the southwest border.
The case is poised to return to the Supreme Court in the fall, and the ACLU has signaled it is ready to keep fighting.
“We’ll be back before the Supreme Court soon to put a stop to Trump’s xenophobic border wall once and for all,” said ACLU lawyer Dror Ladin. “The administration has admitted that the wall can be taken down if we ultimately prevail, and we will hold them to their word and seek the removal of every mile of unlawful wall built.”
