Back in Laredo from a three-hour hearing Monday in federal district court in Washington, D.C., Tricia Cortez, executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center, reflected on the gravity of Rio Grande International Study Center et al v. Donald J. Trump et al, the suit the local environmental watchdog filed contesting the President’s declaration of a national emergency to build the proposed border wall.
“There was much at stake in the course of this hearing. We, RGISC, matter enough to remain in this legal process, to have standing to challenge the president in court,” Cortez said of the hearing before Federal Judge Trevor Neil McFadden.
“There was a lot to take in. We heard the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) reasons for wanting to dismiss the case. The judge asked hard questions of both sides. If Trump was removed as a defendant, would federal agencies be able to provide remedy for the plaintiffs?” Cortez recounted.
RGISC’s lead attorney, Sarah Burt of Earthjustice, answered in the affirmative.
According to Cortez, the DOJ wanted the wall funding, planning, and construction to be seen piece by piece, segment by segment, but Sarah argued that it was a wall from sea to sea and that it couldn’t be broken into pieces for the purpose of litigation.
“Sarah argued that fulfilling a campaign promise for the wall was an abuse of power, that there was no real emergency on the border, and that trying to fund it by circumventing Congress was unconstitutional,” Cortez elaborated.
“The DOJ attorneys threw out a lot of acronyms and statutory rules about the different pots of money that the president is trying to use, but Sarah kept returning to her core premise: the president has violated the Constitution, and other federal laws, by taking billions for the wall from Congressional appropriations for military spending and military salaries and pensions. She said it didn’t matter which pot of federal money the funding came from. What mattered, she said, was the unconstitutionality of using funds Congress had appropriated for other means,” Cortez said.
The DOJ legal team endeavored to remove Zapata County resident Elsa Hull and Webb County rancher Joe Hein — both riverfront property owners — as plaintiffs.
Judge McFadden questioned the four DOJ attorneys about the credibility of CBP’s wall czar Loren Flossman and the fluid pace of ever-changing wall developments.
“It was an affirmation so far from home to hear the judge’s observation about fast moving policy and planning changes that we have called the ‘shifting sands’ of a racist campaign promise brought to life by taxpayers’ money earmarked by Congress for measures other than a wall,” Cortez said.
“Each time RGISC was referenced at the hearing as plaintiff and the president as the defendant by Judge McFadden, our attorneys, and the DOJ attorneys, the magnitude of what is at stake resonated with increasing clarity. Taking a stand against the declaration of a national emergency and the border wall, the president’s violation of the Constitution, and the environmental and cultural devastation the wall could bring — this is one of the most important steps RGISC has taken in its 25-year history,” Cortez continued.
“It was important to be present at the hearing, to be introduced before Judge McFadden and the DOJ attorneys as the faces of this fight,” she concluded.
Earthjustice clients Elsa Hull, Joseph Hein, and Melinda and Ramiro Ramirez of Mercedes also attended the December 16 hearing.
After watching George A’s drone tour of the Rio Grande it’s difficult to imagine a barrier like the wall with roads on both sides along this great river. The Rio Bravo has been tamed by a multitude of dams (on both sides) necessary to store water to feed our our cities & farms along the river. This wall may just be the last albatross that caused our river to collapse by the sheer weight of one more man-made barrier. This one with the consequence of changing the course of the river as the Corp of Engineers hastens to comply with a President’s obsession to “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” Even the so called “bulkhead,” proposed thru the city proper is an affront to the natural terrain of the river and to the populations of our sister cities of Laredo & Nuevo Laredo. Kudos to RGISC and the suit they have filed to stop this presidential madness. I don’t think the courts will intervene but it is definitely worth the time and effort to set a marker that draws a line for this and future government interventions. The RGISC and their Board and Executive Director deserved to be Laredoans of the year for their efforts.
I reiterate from an earlier response to another LareDos blog: The Trump Wall would be a monument to one man’s idiocy and maniacal racism. Trump is an obscene and evil excuse for a human being, much more so to the Office of the President. I do not have any belief in the supernatural, but if there is a hell, which many friends say I’m going to, I want to be there holding the door when Donald Trump arrives. If there is a god, may she bless Ms. Tricia Cortez, Elsa Hull, Joseph Hein, and Melinda and Ramiro Ramirez for their fortitude and humanity.