Courtney Bourgoin, Courtney.Bourgoin@sierraclub.org
San Francisco, CA-- Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on a challenge to President Trump’s abuse of emergency powers to take border wall funds Congress denied. The lawsuit, Sierra Club v. Trump, was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition.
Also today, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in cases that threaten the legal status of over 700,000 young immigrants — DREAMers—who were granted stay via the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (DACA). In addition, Scott Warren, the humanitarian aid volunteer apprehended on the border, also faces a retrial today by the U.S. Attorney.
Ahead of the hearing, Gloria Smith, Managing Attorney at the Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“The court must finally end Trump’s national emergency declaration. Building the wall is having concrete and severe consequences. Wall projects have resulted in the permanent and catastrophic destruction of national treasures like Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the tearing apart of local communities and irreversible damage across the Southwest.”
HEARING INFORMATION:
LIVESTREAM LINK:
https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/media/live_oral_arguments.php.
WHO:
ACLU (Attorney Dror Ladin to argue), Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC)
WHEN:
Tuesday, November 12, 9:30 a.m. PT / 12:30 p.m. ET
WHERE:
James R. Browning U.S. Courthouse, Room 338
95 Seventh St.
San Francisco, California
BACKGROUND:
The Ninth Circuit previously denied the government’s motion to temporarily lift a district court order permanently blocking wall construction using $2.5 billion in unauthorized military funds, and will now hear arguments on the merits of the government’s appeal. In declining to temporarily lift the block, the Ninth Circuit stated: “Under the Appropriations Clause, it is Congress that is to make decisions regarding how to spend taxpayer dollars. Congress did not appropriate money to build the border barriers Defendants seek to build here. Congress presumably decided such construction at this time was not in the public interest. It is not for us to reach a different conclusion.”
Next week’s hearing comes under an expedited proceedings schedule requested by the organizations. The request was in response to a Supreme Court order giving the Trump administration a temporary green light to begin wall construction using up to $2.5 billion in unauthorized military funds. The Supreme Court has not yet decided the ultimate outcome of the case, and no court has given Trump’s abuse of powers the stamp of approval, said that the wall construction is lawful, or su
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.