They’re trying to get it started before the 9th circuit judge can rule on the preliminary injunction on the new law suit filed this week. The court has to allow the government to respond to the complaint, file motions to dismiss and to argue against an injunction.
The power of leftists in the 9th Circuit is diminishing.
These segments were funded out of DoD’s Couter-Drug money. No one is suing to stop that. In total, they plan to spend $2.5 billion from there - about twice as much as Congress authorized for the wall this year.
The lawsuits over the emergency declaration are to prevent the President from also spending money from the Military Construction (MILCON) accounts. The administration has said they intend to spend $3.6 billion from there. Along with about 600 million from Treasury’s asset forfeiture accounts, that would be about $8 billion for wall building this year - which would make a serious impact on illegal immigration. That’s why they are pulling out the stops to sabotage it.
The bottom line is that the law is very clear on the President’s specific power to declare an emergency unilaterally, and spend MILCON as he sees fit. No honest, competent judge would rule against it - so they will find some partisan hacks to delay it, and require an appeal to the 9th Circuit. Either the 9th or the Supreme Court will reverse it, after as much delay as the Left can inflict.
DoJ’s position is that the courts do not even have a role in emergency declarations, so the Administration might just drive ahead anyway, and dare the Congressional Democrats to start an impeachment of the President going into the election, to prevent securing our border.