Trump v. Sierra Club

Trump issued the National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States on February 15, 2019, two days after signing the 2019 budget into law. The order directed that about US$8 billion of previously allocated funds from Congress to departments within the Executive branch be re-allocated to construction of the border wall. This included US$3.6 billion from the Department of Defense's military construction, US$2.5 billion for the Department of Defense's drug interdiction activities, and US$600 million from the Treasury Department's forfeiture fund.[6] In the case of the US$2.5 billion , Trump argued that Section 8005 of the 2019 Defense Appropriations Bill, which states "[t]hat such authority to transfer may not be used unless for higher priority items, based on unforeseen military requirements, than those for which originally appropriated and in no case where the item for which funds are requested has been denied by the Congress." allowed him to transfer funds from the Defense Department to the Department of Homeland Security for the building the border wall as an unforeseen requirement.

The order was immediately challenged in a number of cases. Two challenges were filed at the United States District Court of the Northern District of California; one led by a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, and a second by a coalition of 20 states led by California. Both suits challenged the re-appropriation of the US$2.5 billion of the Defense drug interdiction funds for wall construction as unconstitutional under the Appropriations Clause.[7] Judge Haywood Gilliam presided over both cases.

Judge Gilliam issued a preliminary injunction in the Sierra Club case on May 24, 2019, blocking the use of the targeted funds for border wall construction on the basis that the plaintiff's challenge had a good chance of succeeding on the merits.[8] Gilliam asserted that the re-appropriation of funds by Trump violated the separation of powers. Gilliam also stated that Trump's claim of being able to reallocate funds under the National Emergency Act for "unforeseen" events was belied since he had been asking for funding since 2018.[9] Judge Gilliam's injunction was upheld on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on July 3, 2019.[10] The administration petitioned the Supreme Court to challenge the injunction, and in a 5–4 ruling issued July 26, 2019, put a stay on the injunction as litigation continued, on the basis that the plaintiffs in the case may not have standing to challenge Trump's order.[11][12] In the interveing year, about 200 miles (320 km) of new border wall was constructed.[13]

Judge Gilliam issued joint rulings on both cases on June 28, 2019, ruling against Trump's re-allocation of US$2.5 billion of Defense Department funds set by Congress.[14][15] The administration appealed both cases to the Ninth Circuit.

The Ninth Circuit on review issued their ruling on both cases on June 26, 2020, finding in a 2–1 ruling in both that the re-appropriation of funds was unconstitutional violating the separation of powers.[16][17] The Ninth also affirmed that the NGOs had standing in their suit as the ongoing wall construction was impacting the environment of which they had a vested interest in, and thus were damaged by it.[18] As a result, the Sierra Club case plaintiffs petitioned the Supreme Court to reconsider their prior stay based on the findings of the Ninth Circuit in July 2020,[19] but the Court declined to lift the stay in a 5–4 decision issued on July 31, 2020.[20][21]