President Donald Trump declared a national emergency along the southern border and predicted his administration would end up defending it all the way to the Supreme Court.

That might have been the only thing Trump said Friday that produced near-universal agreement.

The American Civil Liberties Union announced its intention to sue less than an hour after the White House released the text of Trump’s declaration.

Nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen has filed suit in federal court. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several Democratic state attorneys general already have said they might go to court. </s> (WASHINGTON) — The American Civil Liberties Union says it will file a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.

The Friday announcement came hours after Trump signed the declaration and said he expected legal challenges. The civil rights group will argue that Trump’s use of emergency powers is unprecedented and can’t be used to build a border wall.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero says the declaration is ‘patently illegal.’ Their legal action would be separate from anything Congress may do.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH’-see) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have also raised the possibility of legal action. They say Trump’s decision would “shred the Constitution” by usurping Congress’ power to control spending.

White House officials say some of the money would come from military construction projects. </s> ACLU Says It Will Sue Over Trump Emergency Order

WASHINGTON (AP) – The American Civil Liberties Union says it will file a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border.

The Friday announcement came hours after Trump signed the declaration and said he expected legal challenges. The civil rights group will argue that Trump’s use of emergency powers is unprecedented and can’t be used to build a border wall.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero says the declaration is ‘patently illegal.’ Their legal action would be separate from anything Congress may do.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have also raised the possibility of legal action. They say Trump’s decision would “shred the Constitution” by usurping Congress’ power to control spending.

White House officials say some of the money would come from military construction projects. </s> California and at least a dozen other states will be joining a lawsuit to challenge President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Monday. “The president admitted that there’s not a basis for the declaration, he admitted there’s no crisis at the border, he’s now trying to rob funds that were allocated by Congress legally to the various states and people of our states,” Becerra told MSNBC. “The separation of powers is being violated, we’re going to go out there and make sure that Donald Trump cannot steal money from the states and people who need them, since we paid the taxpayer dollars to Washington, D.C. to get those services.”

Speaking on CNN, Becerra said the lawsuit is imminent. “We should be filing sometime today,” Becerra said. “We’re going to try to halt the President from violating the Constitution, the separation of powers, from stealing money from Americans and states that has been allocated by Congress, lawfully.”

This marks the latest effort to challenge Trump’s emergency declaration in the courts. Earlier, three environmental and advocacy groups joined a lawsuit against the emergency declaration. The Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit over the weekend arguing that the White House doesn’t have the authority to use emergency funds to build a wall along the Mexico border. “The only emergency here is Trump’s assault on the Constitution,” said Brian Segee, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “Separation of powers is at the heart of our democracy and the power of the purse is a critical check on the president. Trump’s authoritarian attempt to build his destructive border wall is a flagrant abuse of that constitutional structure. If he gets his way, it’ll be a disaster for communities and wildlife along the border, including some of our country’s most endangered species.” This came after the advocacy group Public Citizen also filed a lawsuit on behalf of three Texas landowners and an environmental group. The American Civil Liberties Union also said it was preparing a lawsuit claiming that Trump doesn’t have the authority to redirect taxpayer money to build a wall.

All the lawsuits shouldn’t come as a surprise to the White House. In fact, Trump said he fully expected the be sued when he announced the emergency declaration Friday but he was confident his administration would eventually come out on top of any legal challenge. “And I’ll sign the final papers as soon as I get into the Oval Office. And we will have a national emergency, and then we will then be sued, and they will sue us in the Ninth Circuit, even though it shouldn’t be there,” Trump said. “And we will possibly get a bad ruling, and then we’ll get another bad ruling. And then we’ll end up in the Supreme Court, and hopefully we’ll get a fair shake. And we’ll win in the Supreme Court, just like the ban.”

Challenge to the emergency declaration could also come from Congress, where lawmakers could put forth a joint resolution to terminate it. But White House adviser Stephen Miller hinted Trump wouldn’t hesitate to cast the first veto of his presidency if lawmakers tried to undo his emergency declaration. “Obviously the president is going to protect his national emergency declaration,” Miller said on Fox News Sunday. </s> Hours after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, two lawsuits have been filed seeking to block it.

Advocacy group Public Citizen confirmed their lawsuit in a tweet saying, “BREAKING: We just sued Trump over his fake national emergency.”

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics also confirmed that they're suing the Justice Department after "it failed to to produce documents concerning the legality of President Trump invoking emergency powers to build a border wall."

The American Civil Liberties Union had announced earlier it would file suit challenging his emergency powers declaration.

"By the president's very own admission in the Rose Garden, there is no national emergency. He just grew impatient and frustrated with Congress, and decided to move along his promise for a border wall 'faster,'" said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero. Some Democratic state attorneys general have also threatened to go to court over the decision

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, told reporters that the state is also likely to sue the president over his emergency declaration.

"No one in America is above the law, not even the president of the United States," Becerra said. "The president does not have power to act frivolously."

Trump signed the declaration to justify diverting billions of federal dollars from military construction and other purposes after Congress approved only a fraction of the money he had demanded. The standoff over border funding had led to the longest government shutdown in history. To avoid another shutdown, Trump reluctantly signed a funding bill Friday that included just $1.4 billion of the $5.7 billion he had demanded for the wall.

Trump announced the declaration in a free-wheeling, 50-minute Rose Garden news conference that included a long preamble about his administration's accomplishments. He jousted with reporters and delivered a sing-song prediction about the fate of the order as it winds its way through the legal system before potentially ending up at the Supreme Court.

"Sadly, we'll be sued and sadly it will go through a process and happily we'll win, I think," said Trump.

“If Trump gets away with this, there’s no telling what the next concocted ‘emergency’ will be, wo will be targeted and what emergency powers will be claimed,” Public Citizen said in a tweet. “We refuse to tolerate this slide to authoritarianism.”

Trump announced in his national emergency speech that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on border barriers — combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> California and 15 other states filed a lawsuit Monday against President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released a statement Monday saying the suit alleges the Trump administration’s action violates the Constitution.

“President Trump treats the rule of law with utter contempt,” Becerra said. “He knows there is no border crisis, he knows his emergency declaration is unwarranted, and he admits that he will likely lose this case in court.”

READ MORE: White House hints Trump will veto Congressional disapproval of emergency declaration

Joining California in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Virginia.

Trump declared a national emergency to fulfil his promise of completing the wall.

The move allows the president to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets.

“President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up ‘national emergency’ in order to seize power and undermine the Constitution,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement. “This ’emergency’ is a national disgrace.” </s> SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California and 15 other states filed a lawsuit Monday against President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released a statement Monday saying the suit alleges the Trump administration’s action violates the Constitution.

“President Trump treats the rule of law with utter contempt,” Becerra said. “He knows there is no border crisis, he knows his emergency declaration is unwarranted, and he admits that he will likely lose this case in court.”

Joining California in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Virginia. All the states involved in the lawsuit have Democratic attorneys general.

Trump declared a national emergency to fulfill his promise of completing the wall.

The move allows the president to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets.

More: Toomey displeased with Trump's border emergency, breaks with Smucker, Perry

More: AP FACT CHECK: Emergency declarations are not everyday steps

More: White House indicates Trump to veto disapproval of emergency

The states say diversion of military funding to wall-building will hurt their economies and deprive their military bases of needed upgrades. They say taking away funds from counter-drug efforts for the wall will also cause damage. California and New Mexico, the two Mexican border states in the lawsuit, say the wall will harm wildlife.

“President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up ‘national emergency’ in order to seize power and undermine the Constitution,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement. “This ‘emergency’ is a national disgrace.” </s> “We should be filing sometime today,” Becerra said. “We’re going to try to halt the President from violating the Constitution, the separation of powers, from stealing money from Americans and states that has been allocated by Congress, lawfully.”

Becerra said about a dozen states are joining the lawsuit.

It’s the latest challenge to hit the Trump administration, which already faces a litany of lawsuits over the national emergency declaration. Over the weekend, the Center for Biological Diversity, Border Network for Human Rights, which marched with Beto O’Rourke in El Paso, Texas, last week, and the American Civil Liberties Union all announced lawsuits.

At the core of each lawsuit is the argument that Trump is circumventing Congress to fund the wall along the US-Mexico border by declaring an emergency.

“The Constitution assigns Congress the power of the purse, and no prior president has ever tried to use emergency powers to fund a chosen project — particularly a permanent, large-scale domestic project such as this — against congressional will. This is obviously improper,” said Dror Ladin, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project.

Becerra argued that the states have standing to challenge Trump because money appropriated to them might be at risk.

“If the President is essentially stealing money that’s been allocated to go to the various states for various purposes but no longer will, we’re being harmed, our people are being harmed,” he said.

The wave of lawsuits was expected, though fighting them in court will likely be difficult.

The National Emergencies Act allows the President to declare a national emergency and unlock a stash of funds by invoking certain statutory authority. The President has wide discretion over what constitutes a national emergency. As a result, legal experts argue that fighting the declaration on the basis of the emergency itself will likely be difficult. The other question is whether the statute Trump has invoked — which in this case, requires the use of the armed forces — can be used to fund the wall.

Under the declaration, the administration will tap $2.5 billion of military narcotics funding and $3.6 billion in military construction funding. Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he will start studying which projects to pull from and determine whether border barriers are necessary to support the use of the armed forces.

It’s not just lawsuits that the administration has to face, but also the possibility of a joint resolution put forth by House Democrats to terminate the declaration. The resolution would need to be voted on by the House and then the Senate, before heading to the President’s desk.

On Sunday, White House adviser Stephen Miller indicated that Trump would cast the first veto of his presidency if lawmakers tried to terminate the declaration.

National emergencies can last for one year and then terminate, unless the President renews the declaration 90 days prior, said Robert Chesney, who served in the Justice Department and teaches at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. Every six months, Congress can consider whether to put forward a joint resolution to terminate the emergency.

According to the Brennan Center, there have been 58 national emergencies between 1978 and 2018. Of those, 31 are still in effect today. </s> SACRAMENTO (AP) – California is likely to sue President Donald Trump over his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, the state attorney general said Friday.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra at a joint news conference with Gov. Gavin Newsom said there is no emergency at the border and Trump doesn’t have the authority to make the declaration.

“No one in America is above the law, not even the president of the United States,” Becerra said. “The president does not have power to act frivolously.”

President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up “national emergency” in order to seize power. This “emergency” is a national disgrace — and the blame lays solely at the feet of the President. Our message to the White House is simple: CA will see you in court.

Trump declared a national emergency earlier in the day to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets to fulfill his promise of completing the border wall. The president said illegal immigrants were invading the country.

The announcement was immediately met with resistance from members of Congress.

Becerra and Newsom said they were reviewing the emergency declaration but are likely to join other states in suing.

Both challenged the notion that there was a real emergency. Becerra said past presidents used such declarations after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.

Newsom said the wall is a “monument to stupidity” that would not make the country safer.

California has repeatedly challenged Trump in court. Becerra has filed at least 45 lawsuits against the administration.
The American Civil Liberties Union and watchdog group Public Citizen announced they will file lawsuits challenging the legality of President Trump’s emergency declaration.