[U: 20 States AND] 100 Former Members Of Congress (Rs And Ds) Answer, On Trump's Would Be "Slush Fund": Insane Border Wall.

UPDATED @ 8 PM EDT: In addition to a late-breaking brief from several preeminent US Constitutional law professors [Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley Law; Michael C. Dorf, Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law, Cornell Law School; David A. Strauss, Gerald Ratner Distinguished Service Professor of Law, Faculty Director of the Jenner & Block Supreme Court and Appellate Clinic, University of Chicago Law School; and Stephen I. Vladeck, A. Dalton Cross Professor in Law, University of Texas School of Law -- you may read that one by clicking on the list of those names and titles], obviously opposing Trump -- we now also have a brief from 20 separate States' Attorneys General -- on behalf of the Great States of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. . . all opposing the attempt by Trump to subvert the Constitution, and ignore the appropriations power, which is vested in the hands of Congress. You should read all three of these, and compare them to the two laughably-lame efforts filed yesterday, by the clearly outmatched Trump-friendly lawyers. [And I didn't even include the one authored by a non-lawyer, on Trump's behalf (or purportedly so) -- since it is simply an exercise in willful ignorance. End updated portion.]

Well, we -- as in "We, the people" are now. . . speaking. And. . . I promise, this will not disappoint.

The first amicus brief -- signed by BOTH life-long Republicans, and Democrats -- against Trump's attempt to divert funds, after the sitting Congress expressly forbade him from using them for a border wall. . . is on file. Do read it all, at the link -- but Trump is completely out of his depth here:

. . . .Amici curiae are a bipartisan group of more than 100 former Members of the House of Representatives, both Republicans and Democrats. Amici have served an aggregate of approximately 1,500 years in Congress, hail from 36 States, and include 21 former Members from the states of the Ninth Circuit. Amici disagree on many issues of policy and politics. Some amici believe that a wall along the Southern Border is in the national interest. Others do not. But all amici agree that the Executive Branch is undermining the separation of powers by proposing to spend tax dollars to build a border wall that Congress repeatedly and emphatically refused to fund.

Amici, as former members of Congress and as citizens of our Nation, have a strong interest in preventing Executive Branch overreach from degrading Congress’s unique and important role in America’s tripartite system of separated powers. . . .

[Each signer] swore an oath to protect the Constitution; each has seen firsthand how the separation of powers safeguards the rights of the American people; and each firmly believes that defending Congress’s power of the purse is essential to preserving democracy’s promise that Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars are spent in accordance with the will of the people. . . .

There is much more -- but if you get the sense that this is a fifth grade civics education, in one small package -- you would not be wrong. It is written at the Donald's level. Hilarious -- and quite. . . savvy.

I think the tide has turned, against Trump's lunacy, in America. This is bi-partisan educational speech. And it is black letter law. Trump will. . . lose. Again.

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