How much do you have to pay to buy yourself a federal judiciary position?
A federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama after contributing heavily to his campaigns has blocked the Trump administration from reallocating $2.5 billion to construct border barriers, according to the Daily Caller.
US District Judge Haywood Gilliam expanded on a May 24 order, forbidding the Trump administration from breaking ground on specific border wall projects in California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. He also turned his previous order into a permanent injunction, according to the Caller‘s Kevin Daley.
After declaring a national emergency at the southern border, the administration announced it would reprogram $600 million from the Treasury Department’s forfeiture fund, $2.5 billion from Defense Department counter-narcotics activities, and $3.6 billion from military construction projects to finance construction of the wall. The $2.5 billion for counter-drug efforts were at issue in Friday’s case.
The plaintiff in Friday’s case is the Sierra Club, an environmentalist group that claims “recreational and aesthetic interests” in habitats near the border, like “hiking, birdwatching, photography and other professional, scientific, recreational, and aesthetic uses.” A border wall will inevitably restrict their access to those habitats, the plaintiffs say, thereby diminishing their quality of life. They also fear heightened racial tensions and environmental damage. –Daily Caller
“Congress considered all of defendants’ proffered needs for border barrier construction, weighed the public interest in such construction against defendants’ request for taxpayer money, and struck what it considered to be the proper balance — in the public’s interest — by making available only $1.375 billion in funding, which was for certain border barrier construction not at issue here,” reads Gilliam’s order.
Trump’s Border Billions Blocked By Obama-Judge Who Donated Tens Of Thousands To Former Prez
A federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama after contributing heavily to his campaigns has blocked the Trump administration from reallocating $2.5 billion to construct border barriers, according to the Daily Caller. US District Judge Haywood Gilliam expanded on a May 24 order, forbidding the Trump administration from breaking ground on specific border wall projects in California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.