Democrats call Trump’s border wall victory in Supreme Court ‘deeply regrettable’ and ‘misguided’

Every conservative justice ruled in favor of allowing Trump to tap into the money, while the liberal justices voted to deny Trump’s plan. Justice Stephen Breyer said he would permit the federal government to negotiate contracts but prohibit actual construction.

Trump tweeted about his big achievement soon after the decision came down, writing, “Wow! Big VICTORY on the Wall. The United States Supreme Court overturns lower court injunction, allows Southern Border Wall to proceed. Big WIN for Border Security and the Rule of Law!”

But many Democratic leaders denounced the Court’s ruling throughout Friday evening, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling the border wall “wasteful” and saying the decision undercuts the rule of law.

“For months, the President has sought to undermine our military readiness and steal from our men and women in uniform to waste billions on a wasteful, ineffective wall that Congress on a bipartisan basis has repeatedly refused to fund,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The Supreme Court’s decision tonight to allow President Trump to defy the bipartisan will of the Congress and proceed with contracts to spend billions of dollars on his wall undermines the Constitution and the law.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the ruling was “deeply regrettable and nonsensical.” He also described the decision as a circumvention of Congress’s power of the purse.

“It’s a sad day when the president is cheering a decision that may allow him to steal funds from our military to pay for an ineffective and expensive wall for which he promised Mexico would foot the bill,” Schumer said in a statement. “I hope that the courts ultimately reach the correct decision that the president doesn’t have the authority to build his ineffective and expensive wall.”

Several Democratic presidential candidates also expressed their disappointment on Twitter.

“Taking away money from the Defense Department to build a wall will not make us any safer. Trump’s political stunt will harm border communities & ignores the root causes of migration. We deserve a president with a common sense & compassionate immigration plan,” former Obama housing secretary Julián Castro wrote.

California Sen. Kamala Harris tweeted that Trump’s proposed border wall has “never been about keeping the American people safe.”

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker said he would “continue to fight back” against the “misguided” decision.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the Sierra Club and Southern Border Communities Coalition fighting the Trump administration in the case, said in a statement that it would explore accelerated proceedings before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to reinstate the hold on funds for the border wall.