The lawsuit, filed by the state of California last year, argued that the Department had improperly waived the National Environmental Policy Act and other immigration and environmental rules to speed up the construction of the wall.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement that the state was “unwavering in our belief that the Trump Administration was ignoring laws it doesn’t like in order to resuscitate a campaign talking point of building a wall on our southern border”.
“We will evaluate all of our options and are prepared to do what is necessary to protect our people, our values, and our economy from federal overreach,” he said. “A medieval wall along the US-Mexico border simply does not belong in the 21st century.”
And Brian Segee, senior attorney for the Centre for Biological Diversity, one of the litigants in the suit, said the organization would appeal the decision, calling the waivers “unconstitutional”. “The Trump administration has completely overreached its authority in its rush to build this destructive, senseless wall,” Segee said in a statement.
“They’re giving unprecedented, sweeping power to an unelected agency chief to ignore dozens of laws and crash through hundreds of miles of spectacular borderlands.” But a Department of Justice spokesman applauded the ruling, saying it will allow “work vital to our nation’s interest.
