He added that the administration planned to file its petition by Aug. 7, far ahead of the deadline. That would allow the justices to consider whether to hear the case at their first private conference after their summer break, on Sept. 29. The declaration followed a two-month impasse with Congress over funding to build the wall, a standoff that gave rise to the longest partial government shutdown in the nation’s history. After Congress appropriated only a fraction of what Mr. Trump had sought, he announced that he would act unilaterally to spend billions more. Soon after, the environmental groups sued to stop the president’s plan to use money meant for military programs to build barriers along the border in what he said was an effort to combat drug trafficking.

Source: New York Times July 31, 2020 22:18 UTC