My friend Morgan Smith wrote this note about the Rio Grande in July 2024. Learn more about Morgan here , here and here .
J.A.M. v. USA "The Court holds that Oscar is entitled to a much lower, but still notable award of $175,000 because he was somewhat older at the time of the incident, was detained for about half...
Path2Papers, July 17, 2024 " What are the policy changes the Biden administration is implementing regarding temporary work visas? On June 18, 2024, the Biden administration announced a policy...
DOJ, July 18, 2024 "The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Southwest Key Programs Inc. (Southwest Key), a Texas-based nonprofit that provides housing to unaccompanied children who are...
Jeanne Kuang, CalMatters, July 18, 2024 "Even with all the industries where Californians went on strike during last year’s “hot labor summer,” some of the most active sites of...
Just Security, Feb. 25, 2019
"A bipartisan group of 58 former U.S. government national security officials have submitted a Joint Declaration that directly challenges President Donald Trump’s proclamation of national emergency to allow the use of billions of dollars in otherwise unavailable funds to build a wall at the southern border. The declarants notably include officials who served in the Trump administration, including the former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, U.S. Ambassador to Panama, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and Assistant Secretary for International Engagement at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The declarants “support the President’s power to mobilize the Executive Branch to respond quickly in genuine national emergencies” but state that “under no plausible assessment of the evidence is there a national emergency today that entitles the President to tap into funds appropriated for other purposes to build a wall at the southern border.”
In eight steps, the joint declaration refutes the factual basis for the President’s emergency declaration, relying, in detail, on “evidence in the public record, including the administration’s own data and estimates,” to show that:
The last of those propositions has special legal significance. The administration’s plan to transfer $3.6 billion requires not only a declaration of a national emergency, but also a determination that the situation requires use of the armed and that the wall is necessary to support the armed forces.
Finally, although this is not the first declaration of national emergency to receive criticism, the former senior officials argue that this assertion of a national emergency is unprecedented in that it has been invoked to address a situation:
(1) that has been enduring, rather than one that has arisen suddenly; (2) that in fact has improved over time rather than deteriorated; (3) by reprogramming billions of dollars in funds in the face of clear congressional intent to the contrary; and (4) with assertions that are rebutted not just by the public record, but by his agencies’ own official data, documents, and statements.
The full declaration is available here."