Washington: Giving a boost to US President Donald Trump's promises during election campaigns, Supreme Court on Friday agreed to use $2.5 billion from the Defense Department funding to construct a wall on the southern border with Mexico.
The justices voted 5-4 to overturn a decision by a lower court in California that barred the Trump administration from employing the money for a purpose other than that designated by US Congress.
Trump had promised to build a wall dividing the US and Mexico during the 2016 presidential election.
In a tweet, the US President described the ruling as a "big victory". He argued that a new wall would help to curb illegal immigration. Trump believes that immigrants are fuelling crime and placing a strain on the economy.
However, Democrats say that Trump has "manufactured the border emergency" and that the wall has become a symbol of his anti-immigration platform.
Trump resorted to tap funds from the Defense Department funds failing to persuade Congress to appropriate more money for the wall in a standoff that led to a 35-day-long partial shutdown of the federal government.
On February 15, he declared a national emergency on the border to justify the diversion of funds.
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted to block the emergency declaration and the Senate, where Trump's Republicans are in the majority, followed suit but the President vetoed the legislation and the White House announced plans to spend $8 billion on the wall.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit against the administration on behalf of the environmental group Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition, which represents organizations from San Diego to southeastern Texas.
The US media reported that environmental groups say building the wall can harm wildlife. About 20 states also filed lawsuits to stop the president from using the emergency declaration to bypass Congress.
The federal district court in California sided with the plaintiffs, finding that the public interest was best served by respecting the Constitution's assignment of the power of the purse to Congress.
The Trump administration challenged the decision, which was upheld by a panel of the San Francisco based US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Finally, the White House appealed to the Supreme Court, insisting that the district court misinterpreted the law.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the apex court ruling "deeply flawed".
Meanwhile, the ACLU vowed to seek an expedited decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to halt the irreversible and imminent damage from Trump's border wall.
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