California Will Sue Trump over National Emergency Declaration

Friday, the giant, orange s*** hit the fan. President Donald Trump declared a state of national emergency so he could override Congress and allocate approximately $8 billion for a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, all because Congress isn’t including his xenophobic plans in their legislation (though they caved to his other demands). It cannot be overstated what a substantive break from presidential norms this is.

People with an ounce of sense aren’t taking Trump’s actions lying down. According to The Hill, California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement: “President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up ‘national emergency’ in order to seize power and subvert the constitution. Our message back to the White House is simple and clear: California will see you in court.”

President @realDonaldTrump signs the Declaration for a National Emergency to address the national security and humanitarian crisis at the Southern Border. pic.twitter.com/0bUhudtwvS

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) February 15, 2019

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Newsom also pointed out the irony that federal funding hasn’t been routed to help out with “real disasters” like the wildfires that swept across his state last year. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra chimed in at a news conference: “This is not 9/11. This is not the Iran hostage crisis of 1979. This is a president showing his disdain for the rule of law and the U.S. constitution.”

Trump admitted in his address, as per The Hill, “I could do the wall over a long period of time. I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.”

Becerra countered, “President Trump got one thing right this morning about his declaration when he said he didn’t have to do this. He’s right. In fact, he can’t do this.”