Court revives Houseโs challenge of Trump wall funding
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed a lower courtโs dismissal of the House Democratsโ lawsuit. The appeals panel cited the House's argument that it was cut out of its โconstitutionally indispensable legislative roleโ when Trump unilaterally moved about $8 billion to border wall construction. House Democrats sued three months after the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, triggered by Trump's demand for border wall funding. Another appeals court ruled in June against the transfer of money from military construction projects. Building a border wall was one of Trump's signature campaign pledges four years ago, though he promised then that Mexico would pay for the wall.
The court that could decide the future of Trump's presidency
And Merrick Garland, whom President Barack Obama nominated to the Supreme Court but never received a Senate vote, is the chief judge of the DC Circuit. Confirmation controversy has only accelerated over time as the DC Circuit has become a stepping stone for the Supreme Court. Trump's lawyers have the option of asking the full DC Circuit for an "en banc" hearing or directly appealing to the Supreme Court. Another possible liberal-leaning Supreme Court nominee for a Democratic president would be Judge Sri Srinivasan, who was born in India, grew up in Kansas, and would be the first Asian-American and Hindu on the Supreme Court. Both Katsas and Rao were law clerks to Justice Clarence Thomas, the most conservative member of the current Supreme Court.