funding for construction of border wall gets supreme court approval

Substantial work is expected to begin soon on the construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, now that the Supreme Court has approved a funding plan for the project.

Earlier this summer, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California blocked a plan by the Trump Administration to use military funds originally intended for other purposes for the wall project.

That court ruled that such funds, amounting to around $2.5 billion, could not be used for the wall project while litigation over the matter was ongoing.

But now, the Supreme Court has decided that the White House can use those funds for a wall project stretching from New Mexico to California.

In that ruling, a majority of five justices said the federal government had made a “sufficient showing at this stage that the plaintiffs have no cause of action.”

Those plaintiffs included the Southern Border Communities Coalition as well as the Sierra Club.

But legal analysts say states that are currently engaged in litigation to stop construction of the wall may eventually be able to prove that they have greater standing in the matter, possibly resulting in a reversed Supreme Court decision in the future.

A report published late last month by the Washington Examiner noted that so far the Trump Administration has not built any new border wall sections, but has instead replaced deteriorating sections of existing infrastructure.

The President has said that his immediate goal is to build up to 100 miles of new border wall.

By Garry Boulard

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