House sues Trump administration over border wall

The House sued members of President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday over his emergency declaration to force funding for a border wall.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., asserts Trump’s emergency acts in direct disregard of Congress’ will and disputes the president’s ability to access certain funds for the wall simply by declaring an emergency. It names Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and the departments they oversee. It does not name Trump as a defendant.

“The House has been injured, and will continue to be injured, by defendants’ unconstitutional actions, which usurp the House’s appropriations authority and mean that the relevant funds are no longer available to be spent on the purposes for which they were appropriated,” the complaint says.

View the complete April 5 article by Matthew Choi on the Politico website here.