On May 17, Alston & Bird Construction & Government Contracts associate Breana Ware was quoted in The Christian Science Monitor article “For Builders, Trump’s Wall Beckons but Is Fraught with Political Risk.” The article discusses how political pressure from state legislatures and activists has been focused directly on some of the largest and best-known design, engineering, and construction firms that are qualified to complete President Trump’s proposed border wall. Such pressure, in the form of protests and proposed and passed state antiwall legislation targeting participating companies, has caused many contractors to decide to not bid on the wall despite its potential to be a more than $20 billion project. As indicated by Ware, such state blacklisting measures against a federal project would face huge constitutional barriers if the laws were ever challenged in court. She specifically notes that the Supremacy Clause and the Commerce Clause would be of particular importance in deciding whether such antiwall legislation could hold up in court.
To learn more about Ware’s comments on political risks associated with contracting on President Trump’s proposed border wall and the difficulties and costs such pressure creates for interested government contractors, click here or view the republished article on Yahoo! News.