With the election over and President Donald Trump set to give way to President-elect Joe Biden next month, the court battles over Trump’s signature border wall promise could stretch past next month’s inauguration, according to Texas Tribune.
Carlos Flores, a Laredo-based attorney, represents Zapata County and two South Texas landowners in a lawsuit challenging Trump’s 2017 executive order, mandating construction of a physical barrier on the border. The lawsuit alleges the administration violated the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, which provides for equal protection under the law.
During his campaign, Biden said his administration would not build another mile of barrier should he win, though the border barrier may not be among Biden’s immediate priorities.
Jessica Bolter, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute, said last month that Biden could immediately end Trump’s emergency declaration, but it’s unclear how that would affect ongoing construction projects and the money already dedicated to them.
“Ending the transfer of future funds doesn’t mean in itself that wall construction stops,” she said.
The Trump administration currently shows no signs of slowing progress on the barrier. So far, the government hasn’t built anything on the land that’s part of Flores’ lawsuit. Court documents show that last month the federal government was granted more time to file documents seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, which would allow the project to proceed.
