Donald Trump’s border wall reaches the Supreme Court

By S.M. | NEW YORK

WITHIN DAYS, America's highest court will weigh in on one of President Donald Trump's most divisive policies: his plan to build a wall on the southern border. Back in February, his declaration of a national emergency to redirect funds meant for other projects to build the barrier triggered a wave of lawsuits. In June a federal district court in California dealt a blow to the president’s plans. On July 3rd the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court, prompting the Trump administration to rush to the Supreme Court for relief. The government wants the justices to issue a ruling by July 26th to permit it to use a pot of money in the defence budget to get started on the wall. Justice Elena Kagan—who handles such emergency appeals from the Ninth Circuit—has given wall challengers until July 19th to submit a written reply. The Supreme Court will rule soon afterwards.

The point of contention in Sierra Club v Trump is relatively narrow. It concerns one chunk of the $8bn Mr Trump says he needs to construct the barrier on the Mexican border: some $2.5bn in funds Congress directed to the Department of Defence to cover salaries, moving expenses and retirement benefits for army personnel. Mr Trump and his cabinet determined that these personnel costs were lower than expected and “reprogrammed” the funds to beef up counter-narcotics efforts along a 100-mile stretch of the southern border by constructing a fence. Section 8005 of the Department of Defence Appropriations Act of 2019, the White House said, permitted just such a transfer of cash.