AG Ferguson: Court blocks Trump administration effort to divert Washington funds to border wall

A submarine sails through Puget Sound on its way
to Naval Base Kitsap in Bangor
Photo by John Slomnicki

On February 27, 2020, a federal judge reversed and permanently blocked the Trump Administration’s unlawful decision to “reprogram” funding for more nearly $89 million in congressionally approved military construction funding meant for Naval Base Kitsap to help build a wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

Judge Barbara Rothstein in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington granted summary judgment in Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s lawsuit challenging the Administration. The Trump Administration’s unlawful decision would have diverted nearly $89 million from the Kitsap Peninsula’s Bangor submarine base.

“This judgment is an important victory for the rule of law, and the system of checks and balances our founders enshrined in our Constitution,” Ferguson said. 

“We’re looking forward to this $89 million being used the way Congress intended — to support a military construction project in Washington state.”

Gov. Jay Inslee said,

“I am pleased that the Court agreed that money from Washington state projects should not be diverted to help subsidize President Trump’s border wall. 

"Washington will continue to fight against any proposed efforts to move funds out of our state for unlawful and unconstitutional purposes. I thank the Attorney General for his continued fight on behalf of Washingtonians.”

Two federal judges — one in Texas and one in California — previously issued injunctions blocking the border wall project, but those injunctions have been lifted. This new ruling means that congressionally approved funding meant for Washington will not be diverted to that project.

This ruling marks the 25th legal victory for the Attorney General’s Office in litigation against the Trump Administration.

In February 2019, President Trump declared a “national emergency” to reallocate funds for his long-promised border wall despite the fact that Congress has repeatedly refused to approve the funding he requested.

Congress voted with a bipartisan majority to overturn President Trump’s “emergency” declaration with bipartisan support, but President Trump vetoed their legislative action.

Ferguson filed his lawsuit in September 2019, after the Trump Administration identified the specific military construction projects it intended to target — seven months after the “emergency” declaration.

Ferguson waited to file the lawsuit until the Trump Administration identified Washington projects that would be implicated.

A bipartisan group of more than 100 former members of Congress filed a brief in support of the challenge, along with the U.S. House of Representatives and 60 former national security and State Department officials who served presidents of both parties.