Supreme Court to hear cases on Trump border wall spending, 'remain in Mexico' policy

The Supreme Court is set to hear two key cases involving the Trump administration's border wall spending and its "remain in Mexico" policy.

The court on Monday said it would review President Trump's program of requiring asylum seekers to stay in Mexico as they wait for court hearings, The New York Times reports. Previously, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that this policy is "invalid in its entirety," but the Supreme Court stayed a ruling blocking the program and allowed it to continue. The policy has affected at least 60,000 asylum seekers, per the Times, and Politico notes that since hearings conducted near the border under this program were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, "most asylum applicants who arrived at the southwest border are effectively stranded in Mexico."

Additionally, the Supreme Court will consider whether the Trump administration improperly diverted Pentagon money to put toward border wall construction, NBC News reports. The Supreme Court had stayed a lower court injunction and allowed construction to continue last year, Politico reports. This case is expected to be heard in early 2021, although NBC notes that should Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden win the 2020 election, "the federal government would probably stop construction anyway."

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News that these cases will be heard comes after on Friday, the Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments for next month in a case over whether Trump can exclude undocumented immigrants from the census count used to allocate congressional seats. Those original arguments will begin on Nov. 30.