Veto Override Notwithstanding, Trump Lost the Fight on ‘National Emergency’ Powers
Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen
Note: The U.S. House of Representatives will vote today on whether to overturn a presidential veto of a resolution blocking President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. Public Citizen filed the first lawsuit challenging the declaration.
A veto override was never in the cards, but President Donald Trump already lost the fight over emergency powers and wall construction before today.
The bipartisan approval of a resolution disapproving Trump’s emergency declaration was perhaps the most consequential rejection of Trump’s authoritarianism yet and makes it far less likely that Trump will declare future fake emergencies, for even more nefarious ends.
At the same time, after Congress has rejected funding demands for his racist and pointless border wall, his illegal and unconstitutional effort to secure funding is likely to meet defeat in the courts.