Michigan Joins 15 Other States Suing Trump Over Emergency Declaration

click to expand

(CBS Detroit) Attorney General Dana Nessel says Michigan has joined a lawsuit filed against President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed the lawsuit Monday and says 16 states allege the Trump administration's action violates the Constitution

Also joining the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Virginia.

Trump declared a national emergency to fulfill his promise of completing the wall.

The move allows the president to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and other budgets.

The states say diversion of military funding to wall-building will hurt their economies and deprive their military bases of needed upgrades. They say taking away funds from counter-drug efforts for the wall will also cause damage. California and New Mexico, the two Mexican border states in the lawsuit, say the wall will harm wildlife.

California has repeatedly challenged Trump in court.

"President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up 'national emergency' in order to seize power and undermine the Constitution," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement. "This 'emergency' is a national disgrace."

Michigan