Media Mention

Court rules against Trump’s Diversion of Military Funds for Wall

October 10, 2020

Note: this piece was originally published in Reason, and was written by Checks & Balances member Ilya Somin. 

Yesterday, in Sierra Club v. Trump, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that President Trump’s effort to divert military construction funds is illegal. This is the first appellate decision addressing the issue of whether Trump could use a national emergency declaration to divert funds to the border wall by using 10 USC Section 2808, which, says that “In the event of a declaration of war or the declaration by the President of a national emergency in accordance with the National Emergencies Act…  that requires use of the armed forces,” the Department of Defense will have the power  to divert military construction funds “undertake military construction projects, not otherwise authorized by law that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces.” A previous Ninth Circuit decision ruled it is illegal for Trump to divert funds by using Section 8005 of the the 2019 Department of Defense Appropriations Act.

Continue reading at Reason.