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Judge throws out butterfly sanctuary's lawsuit against Trump over border wall

Judge throws out butterfly sanctuary's lawsuit against Trump over border wall

The judge didn't think much of their arguments

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from a butterfly conservation organization that was seeking to block construction of the Trump administration's border wall in south Texas, according to The Hill.

The North American Butterfly Association tried to sue the Trump administration on the basis that the administration had violated the organization's Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon rejected both of those claims. In response to the Fourth Amendment claim, Leon said that "no factual allegation suggest that the defendant entered or searched without consent any physical structures on the Center's property."

Leon also dismissed the Fifth Amendment challenge, determining that the organization's due process rights were not violated.

The border wall plans will reportedly cut the NABA's Butterfly Center in half and render much of its land inaccessible between the Rio Grande River and the wall itself.

The NABA also said that workers preparing for wall construction on the Butterfly Center's property would cause significant damage, so the NABA filed for a restraining order this week to block wall construction.

The dismissal of the lawsuit clears one of what is likely to be many hurdles for the construction of the border wall. President Donald Trump is planning to declare a national emergency to secure the remaining funds to build the wall, after getting only $1.375 billion from a bipartisan funding bill. He has been asking for more than $5 billion.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration is ready for a legal fight.

"We're very prepared, but there shouldn't be," Sanders said. "The president's doing his job. Congress should do theirs."

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Aaron Colen

Aaron Colen

Aaron is a former staff writer for TheBlaze. He resides in Denton, Texas, and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in journalism and a Master of Education in adult and higher education.