BORDER/DEMS/HOUSE OF REPS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “House Democrats are weighing a lawsuit if President Donald Trump pulls the trigger on a national emergency declaration to build his border wall, with party leaders eager to stop the president from doing an end run around Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to lay out exactly how House Democrats would respond to such an explosive move during a Thursday [1-10-19] morning news conference. And senior Democratic sources cautioned that lawmakers will wait to see whether Trump actually goes through with his threat to unilaterally move money to build his wall on the southern border. But Democrats are considering their options — from issuing a legal challenge to grilling administration officials at hearings for executive overreach. Many Democrats predict their chamber would quickly pass a resolution instructing the House counsel to sue the administration for ignoring the appropriations clause in the Constitution. Congress, after all, has the power of the purse. And Democrats would likely have standing to challenge the administration for usurping their authority for what they view as a phony emergency.”
–Rachael Bade and Heather Caygle, ” Dems eye legal challenge as Trump threatens national emergency,” Politico, January 10, 2019 6:04 pm