Sixteen US states sued the government of Donald Trump following his declaration of national emergency to finance the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico, claiming that this decision is unconstitutional.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California, states that the president’s order contradicts a clause that establishes legislative procedures and another that designates Congress as the last arbitrator of public funds.
The lawsuit had been previously announced by Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, who stated that his state and others had legal grounds to present it because they could lose money for military projects, assistance in the event of disasters and other purposes.
In addition to California, the claimants are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Virginia.
Along with the Democratic opposition, several Republican senators criticized Trump’s declaration of emergency, alleging that it established a dangerous precedent and that it implied an overreaching of the executive’s powers.
Trump signed a national emergency declaration on Friday, an extraordinary procedure that allows him to unlock federal funds without going through Congress.
According to the White House, Trump could have about 8,000 million dollars – between the funds unlocked by him and the 1.4 billion dollars allocated by Congress – to build a wall in part of the border with Mexico.
The disagreement between Trump and the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives caused a 35-day shutdown, the partial closure of the longest administration in the country’s history.
