US Supreme Court allows Trump to spend $2.5bn in Pentagon funds on border wall

The US Supreme Court has blocked a ruling by a California judge that would have prevented President Donald Trump from spending $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds to build a wall along the country’s southern border.

The court’s 5-4 ruling fully reversed a California district judge’s decision last month forbidding the president from redirecting the Congress-approved funds because the legislature hadn’t specifically authorized the money to be spent on Trump’s long-touted construction project.

The SCOTUS decision is a major victory for Trump, who has seen his political opponents in the Democratic Party attempt to block the border wall’s construction at every turn. The controversial barrier was at the center of a political standoff that saw a large chunk of the government shut down for over a month at the beginning of the year, and his efforts to declare a “national emergency” in order to free up some of the Pentagon’s cash have also been stonewalled - until now.

Trump implored the Supreme Court earlier this month to lift the California court’s injunction and release the funds that would allow him to build “high-priority” sections of wall in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, taking a step toward fulfilling one of the central promises of his 2016 campaign. In addition to the $2.5 billion, which will be reappropriated from Defense Department counternarcotics activities, Trump has also targeted $3.6 billion in military construction funds and $600 million from the Treasury Department’s asset forfeiture fund to cover the cost of the barrier Congress has refused to fund.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!