AG Signals Lawsuit Imminent Over Border Declaration

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Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who’s been among the most frequent legal challengers of the Trump administration, indicated Monday that he’s preparing yet another battle in court over the President’s emergency powers declaration to fund a wall on the southern border.

“There’s no question in our mind that what he’s doing is unlawful,” Ferguson said Monday during a rally at the Capitol Campus in Olympia. “In order to come up with the billions of dollars that the President wants to build this wall, he will be raiding funds across this country. … He will be raiding those funds already allocated by Congress and using those for his so-called emergency.”

If any of the funds used for the wall end up affecting Washington taxpayers, Ferguson said his legal team is poised to challenge the declaration. 

“My team has prepared a potential lawsuit,” he said. “If any of those funds that he raids impact the state of Washington, if he impacts the people of the state of Washington, if he impacts the the projects here in the state of Washington, we have four words for him: ‘See you in court.’”

At the rally, attended by scores of activists with signs denouncing Trump, Ferguson highlighted the 33 times he’s sued the administration, noting that the 17 cases that have already been decided have all gone against Trump. He said he’s also been coordinating with attorneys general in other states over plans to block the wall declaration.



Rep. Denny Heck, D-Olympia, also spoke at the rally, predicting that Ferguson and others would nix Trump’s wall-building ambitions.

“Not one inch of that wall will be built under his declaration of emergency,” said Heck. “He’s gonna get sued by great attorneys general like Bob Ferguson, by the (American Civil Liberties Union), by a lot of other groups. It’s gonna get stayed in court.”

Heck also said that he anticipated both the House and Senate would pass resolutions to end the emergency declaration, but would not predict if they could muster veto-proof majorities. Trump’s declaration, he added, is an attempt to save face after he signed a funding bill to end the 35-day government shutdown without getting the $5 billion he had demanded for a wall. 

“We kicked his butt in the omnibus budget bill,” he said. “Donald Trump doesn’t get up early enough any morning of the week to take on (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi.”