White House vows to appeal ruling blocking use of military funds for border wall

The Trump administration will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that blocked the president from using Defense Department funds to construct a border wall, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Wednesday. 

The White House’s announcement comes a day after Judge David Briones of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued an injunction on using the Pentagon funds on the wall. 

“The district court issued a nationwide injunction on the theory that building the wall is causing ‘reputational’ harm and economic disruption to a Texas county and an advocacy group in that county,” Grisham said in a statement. 

“But the court’s injunction sweeps far broader than that and blocks multiple projects that are hundreds of miles away and have nothing to do with these plaintiffs,” she continued. “The Supreme Court has already stayed one erroneous injunction blocking the use of a different statutory authority to build the border wall and the Administration plans to immediately appeal this incorrect decision, too.”

Briones, a Clinton appointee, ruled in favor of El Paso County, Texas, and Border Network for Human Rights, which argued that Trump’s national emergency declaration using Pentagon money for the wall was an overreach. 

The plaintiffs also accused the White House of using the funds for a situation that did not meet the requirements for an “emergency” under the National Emergencies Act. 

“After due consideration, the Court is of the opinion that a declaratory judgment and permanent injunction shall be granted in Plaintiffs’ favor,” Briones wrote in the Tuesday ruling.

A second federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the administration could not use military funds for border wall construction. 

Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr., an Obama appointee with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ruled that the White House’s plans to reallocate defense funding for the border construction was unlawful. 

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond when asked if the administration plans to appeal the Wednesday ruling, as well.