Trump administration loses bid to lift bar on funds for border wall

[TexasTowelie]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to lift an injunction barring the Trump administration from using $2.5 billion intended for the fight against illegal narcotics to build a wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico.

The ruling was another setback in President Donald Trump's effort to construct a border wall, one of his top promises in the 2016 presidential campaign. He pledged at the time that Mexico would pay for it.

"Congress did not appropriate money to build the border barriers defendants seek to build here," a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 ruling.

"Congress presumably decided such construction at this time was not in the public interest. ... It is not for us to reach a different conclusion," the panel said.

Read more: https://www.metro.us/news/the-big-stories/trump-administration-loses-bid-to-lift-bar-funds-border-wall

[Judi Lynn]

1. Border wall: Appeals court upholds freeze on using Pentagon money

JULY 4, 2019 / 12:11 AM / AP

A California appeals court on Wednesday upheld a freeze on Pentagon money to build a border wall with Mexico, casting doubt on President Trump's ability to make good on a signature campaign promise before the 2020 election. A divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with a lower court ruling that prevented the government from tapping Defense Department counterdrug money to build high-priority sections of wall in Arizona and New Mexico.

The decision is a setback for Mr. Trump's ambitious plans. He ended a 35-day government shutdown in February after Congress gave him far less than he wanted. He then declared a national emergency that the White House said would free billions of dollars from the Pentagon.

. . .

A freeze imposed by U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. of Oakland in May prevented work on two Pentagon-funded wall contracts - one spanning 46 miles in New Mexico and another covering 5 miles in Yuma, Arizona.

While the order applied only to those first-in-line projects, Gilliam made clear that he felt the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups were likely to prevail at trial in their argument that the president was ignoring Congress' wishes by diverting Defense Department money.

More:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/border-wall-appeals-court-upholds-freeze-on-using-pentagon-money/

[Bayard]

2. Executive Order coming in 3...2...1...

The king will decree that he will do what he wants.

[Brainfodder]

3. He has been claiming the wall is being built for many months?

...when there was no funding whatsoever, remember this?

Living a really bad B-movie at this point, with a YUGE web of obvious corruption being flaunted at this point, all while childishly taunting US to prove and/or stop it!?!