16 US states sue govt over emergency

Critics say Trump opens the door for future leaders to call on the act to bypass Congress

A coalition of 16 US states sued the federal government on Monday over President Donald Trump's decision to declare a national emergency to fund a wall on the southern border with Mexico, saying the move violated the Constitution.

Trump announced the emergency on Friday in order to bypass Congress, which approved only a quarter of the $5.6 billion he wanted for the wall in a spending bill.

But the lawsuit, filed in a federal district court in California, said the president's order was contrary to the Constitution's presentment and appropriations clauses, which outline legislative procedures and define Congress as the final arbiter of public funds, respectively.

The move was announced by Xavier Becerra, the attorney general of California, who said on Sunday that his state and others had legal standing because they risked losing moneys intended for military projects, disaster assistance and other purposes.

The states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Virginia are party to the complaint seeking an injunction.

Critics, including several senators from Trump's Republican Party, have warned that the president has opened the door for future presidents to act similarly whenever they fail to get their way with Congress.

Should the states prevail at two lower court levels, the case could work its way up to the Supreme Court, setting up a precedent-setting showdown on the separation of powers.

Protesters around the country spent the Presidents Day holiday rallying against Trump's emergency declaration.

"Trump is the national emergency!" chanted a group of hundreds lined up on Monday at the White House fence while Trump was in Florida. Some held up large letters spelling out "stop power grab". In downtown Fort Worth, Texas, a small group carried signs with messages including "no wall! #FakeT-rumpEmergency."

In New York, hundreds of people at a Manhattan park chanted "No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here" as several of them held up letters spelling out: "IMPEACH".

There were some counterprotesters, including in Washington, where there was a brief scuffle in the crowd.

The 16 states "bring this action to protect their residents, natural resources, and economic interests from President Donald Trump's flagrant disregard of fundamental separation of powers principles ingrained in the United States Constitution," the complaint said.

It added that Trump had veered the country toward a "constitutional crisis of his own making".

"Congress has repeatedly rebuffed the president's insistence to fund a border wall, recently resulting in a record 35-day partial government shutdown over the border wall dispute," it said.

"After the government reopened, Congress approved, and the president signed into law, a $1.375 billion appropriation for fencing along the southern border, but Congress made clear that funding could not be used to build President Trump's proposed border wall."

The complaint also questioned Trump's categorization of illegal border crossings as a national emergency, saying data issued by his own administration refuted the notion.

"Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data show that unlawful entries are near 45-year lows," it said.

"The State Department recognizes there is a lack of credible evidence that terrorists are using the southern border to enter the United States. Federal data confirm that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than are native-born Americans."

AP, AFP and Reuters contributed to this story.

(China Daily 02/20/2019 page12)