June 26th, 2020: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that President Trump’s attempt to circumvent Congress and transfer $2.5 billion in military pay and pension funds for border wall construction is unlawful. The court also rejected the argument that no one can go to court to block the President’s blatant abuse of power. See the full decision here.
The U.S.-Mexico border is a jewel of riparian and desert ecosystems that would be devastated by construction of the border wall and its related infrastructure. The court held that Sierra Club's members have standing to bring this litigation in the first place because they fish, hike, and birdwatch in these varied and fragile desert ecosystems of the southern border. Sierra Club ELP, together with ACLU and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, has been challenging the construction of Trump’s border wall since 2019.
Sierra Club was represented by ELP attorneys Gloria Smith and Sanjay Narayan, with support from legal assistant Katie Chamberlain and research analyst Ana Boyd.
Read the full press release here.