Trump, calling for legal appeal, slams ‘activist Obama appointed judge' over border wall ruling
FOX NEWS - President Trump on Saturday ripped into what he described as an “activist Obama appointed judge” after a federal judge blocked the administration’s plan to reallocate money to building a wall on the southern border with Mexico.
“Another activist Obama appointed judge has just ruled against us on a section of the Southern Wall that is already under construction,” he said. “This is a ruling against Border Security and in favor of crime, drugs and human trafficking.”
Trump went on to say that the administration is asking for “an expedited appeal.”
U.S District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam’s ruling late Friday temporarily prevents the administration from using reallocated funds for two wall-related projects in Arizona and Texas by diverting money that Congress has not approved.
Trump declared a national emergency in February and is using that declaration to redirect funding from the Pentagon, after Congress did not agree to the president’s demand for more than $5 billion in wall funding.
"Congress's 'absolute' control over federal expenditures -- even when that control may frustrate the desires of the executive branch regarding initiatives it views as important -- is not a bug in our constitutional system. It is a feature of that system, and an essential one," Gilliam, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote in his opinion.