Speaker 1: President Trump's wall may not be getting any higher, but
Speaker 1: the number of lawsuits filed against him by California is
Speaker 1: California issuing the Trump administration to stop construction of the
Speaker 1: wall along the state's border with Mexico. California State Attorney
Speaker 1: General Javier Bessara said that construction of the border wall
Speaker 1: violates the separation of powers doctrine of the Constitution and
Speaker 1: thirty seven laws, including the Clean Water Act, the National
Speaker 1: Environmental Policy Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act. The
Speaker 1: border between the US and Mexico spans some two thousand miles.
Speaker 1: The list of laws violated by the President's administration in
Speaker 1: order to build his campaign wall is almost as law.
Speaker 1: This is the latest of more than two dozen lawsuits
Speaker 1: and legal briefs filed against the Trump administration by bas
Speaker 1: Sarah As California political resistance to the Trump agenda escalates,
Speaker 1: joining us to discuss the law SCOOTS lawsuit is Cardike
Speaker 1: Marotra Bloomberg News Legal reporter card k Homeland Security has
Speaker 1: broad powers over the border. So what are the strongest
Speaker 1: arguments in this lawsuit? So there are three fundamental arguments
Speaker 1: being brought by the California Attorney general. One is based
Speaker 1: on states rights on that to this proposal is a
Speaker 1: violation of sentiment rights for the state to do what
Speaker 1: it wishes to uh in in the state. That's one.
Speaker 1: The second is that the law that allows the Department
Speaker 1: of Homeland Security to circumvent local and federal laws to
Speaker 1: erect a wall and has some caveats, and it among
Speaker 1: them is that after the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Speaker 1: Responsibility Act was passed in ninety six, there was a
Speaker 1: brief window in which the federal government was supposed to
Speaker 1: determine which regions would be subject to additional physical barriers.
Speaker 1: This area apparently was not one of those regions uh
Speaker 1: and and the deadline for doing so for naming that
Speaker 1: area was the end of two thousand eight. So the
Speaker 1: BASERA Attorney General's office claims that you know your your
Speaker 1: wind of opportunity has gone, and that's sort of the
Speaker 1: primary argument. The third is that there's been no nipa
Speaker 1: um review environmental review of this project. The environmental impact
Speaker 1: hasn't been determined, so that needs to occur before any
Speaker 1: construction can move forward. These are the three basic claims. Cardike.
Speaker 1: The president generally has very broad power over the border.
Speaker 1: How does that general principle fit in with those specific
Speaker 1: allegations that you just laid out. The State of California
Speaker 1: is going to argue that while the president has broad powers,
Speaker 1: while the Department of Homeland Security has broad powers, they
Speaker 1: can't violate the constitution right. They can't circumvent the tenth Amendment.
Speaker 1: So you can't heat upon the state's rights to enforce
Speaker 1: your own um And so they're going to hope that
Speaker 1: they can find a favorable judge to to buy into
Speaker 1: that argument. Illegal challenges to border barriers have not been
Speaker 1: successful over the years, have they No, You've seen, uh
Speaker 1: these challenges pop up a number of times in the past,
Speaker 1: and yet you have over seven hundred miles of border
Speaker 1: wall uh at the US Mexico borders. So I don't
Speaker 1: think at the law is on California. An attorney general,
Speaker 1: how you have saricide Carter K. You mentioned the hope
Speaker 1: by California for a favorable judge. Is there a prospect
Speaker 1: this case could end up before Judge Curiel, who, of
Speaker 1: course was the focus of Donald Trump's um uh ire
Speaker 1: during the campaign because of the student in halving Trump University.
Speaker 1: That's not out of the question. He's in the southern
Speaker 1: district of California. I don't believe it's been assigned to
Speaker 1: judge yet, um so us. Yeah, it's it's absolutely possible.
Speaker 1: Uh but uh and that will certainly create a dynamic
Speaker 1: worth watching where you'll see the President again have the
Speaker 1: opportunity to attack the judiciary if fIF things don't go
Speaker 1: his way. Certainly he we all know how passionate he
Speaker 1: is about the border wall, So if another judge gets
Speaker 1: in his way, you know, all bets are off. On Twitter,
Speaker 1: card Cake, can you describe the number of lawsuits that
Speaker 1: Bassara has been filing and California's basic attempt to confront
Speaker 1: the Trump administration and its agenda. The California Resistance, as
Speaker 1: as they dubbed it, sort of got off to a
Speaker 1: slow start. Aside from the travel Band, which California didn't
Speaker 1: actually take a leading role in, it had been rather quiet.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until the DOCCA issue re emerged a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, when Attorney General Sessions announced its phasing
Speaker 1: out over the next six months, that California and howvir
Speaker 1: Besa really got into gear. He's campaigning for two thousand
Speaker 1: and eighteen election. He was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown
Speaker 1: in December, so he's campaigning now and now it seems
Speaker 1: to the issues that are are central to California politics
Speaker 1: are becoming national issues. Um that's mostly immigration and border securities.
Speaker 1: So data and the wall are are right in his wheelhouse.
Speaker 1: So we're seeing the Bassarra office becoming more proactive and
Speaker 1: California as a whole, legislatively is becoming more proactive. You
Speaker 1: have a couple of bills in Sacramento, one that would
Speaker 1: make California sanctuary state, and the other that would require
Speaker 1: any presidential candidates who wish to get on California ballot
Speaker 1: to declare their tax records for last five years. Uh,
Speaker 1: we'll have to stop their car card. But we're gonna
Speaker 1: have plenty to talk about about California, especially if it
Speaker 1: decides to secede from the Union, as the case maybe