WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - In a late Friday decision, the conservative members of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump can go ahead with plans to appropriate billions of dollars in military funding to begin building sections of his long-promised border wall with Mexico.
The Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to lift a lower court injunction that blocked Trump from using approximately $2.5 billion in military construction funds while litigation over the controversial border wall proceeds.
The Trump administration has claimed the new sections of border wall could be taken down if the groups challenging the barrier's construction ultimately succeed.
Responding to the ruling in a post on Twitter, Trump called the Supreme Court decision a 'Big WIN for Border Security and the Rule of Law!'
The ruling by the Supreme Court comes after Trump declared the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border a national emergency in February in an effort to appropriate $6 billion for the construction of the wall, including $2.5 billion transferred from the Pentagon.
The Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition challenged the transfer, and U.S. District Judge Haywood Gillium subsequently blocked the move.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit refused to stay Judge Gilliam's injunction, leading the Trump administration to appeal to the conservative-controlled Supreme Court.
The four liberal members of the Supreme Court dissented, with Justice Stephen Breyer arguing for allowing the Trump administration to begin planning but not construction.
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