"Now this important project can go forward!” President Donald Trump wrote online. | Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images Trump welcomes border ruling from judge he attacked 
 
 President Donald Trump on Tuesday celebrated a “big legal win” delivered by a federal judge against whom he once leveled racial criticism. 
 
 Earlier Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel rejected lawsuits brought by environmentalists and the state of California related to the Trump administration’s efforts to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. 
 
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 “Big legal win today. U.S. judge sided with the Trump Administration and rejected the attempt to stop the government from building a great Border Wall on the Southern Border. Now this important project can go forward!” the president wrote online. 
 
 Trump made no mention in his Tuesday tweet of his previous feud with Curiel, which dates back to the summer of 2016, when the then-GOP candidate characterized the federal judge as a “Mexican” whose heritage meant he could not capably oversee a lawsuit against Trump, even though Curiel was born in Indiana. 
 
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 The president’s criticism of Curiel prompted significant backlash at the time, with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) labeling Trump’s remark as the “textbook definition of a racist comment." 
 
 ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the parts of a proposed border wall he says California wants will not be built until the entire southern wall is approved, although state officials have said they are strongly opposed to the plan. 
 
 Construction workers raise the 30-foot high bollard style wall, at the US-Mexico border to replace a section of the border wall near Calexico, California. REUTERS/Earnie Grafton 
 
 “I have decided that sections of the Wall that California wants built NOW will not be built until the whole Wall is approved,” Trump said in a tweet. 
 
 A U.S.-Mexico border wall, a key item promised by Trump to his political base of supporters, has become a sticking point in talks to keep alive a federal program protecting young people brought to the United States illegally as children from deportation. 
 
 A U.S. judge on Tuesday had sided with Trump’s administration and rejected an attempt by California and environmental groups to stop the federal government from building a wall on the state’s border with Mexico. California currently has some sections of existing barriers. 
 
 The lawsuit filed in a San Diego federal court alleged that Trump’s proposed wall violates federal environmental standards and constitutional provisions regarding the separation of powers and states’ rights. 
 
 The plaintiffs asked U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel to stop the administration from pursuing the barrier until it demonstrates compliance with environmental laws. 
 
 “Big victory yesterday with ruling from the courts that allows us to proceed. OUR COUNTRY MUST HAVE BORDER SECURITY!” Trump added in a tweet on Wednesday. 
 
 It was unclear what Trump meant about parts of the wall California wants built, given the state’s opposition to the whole idea. 
 
 Attorney General Xavier Becerra said after the ruling his office remained opposed to the border wall and would evaluate its options. 
 
 Trump is scheduled to visit California in mid-March to see prototypes for the proposed border wall, administration officials have said. 
 
 A week ago the federal government began work to replace a section of barrier built in the 1990s in the border town of Calexico with a 30-foot (9.1-meter) high stretch of bollard-style wall. 
 
 That was the first wall contract awarded by the Trump administration apart from eight prototypes built last year in San Diego. 
 
 In his latest budget proposal to Congress, Trump requested $23 billion for border security, most of it for the wall. 
 
 Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto postponed plans for the Mexican leader’s first visit to the White House, after a testy phone call in which Trump would not agree to publicly affirm Mexico’s position that it would not fund construction of the wall. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 / Updated By James Rainey 
 
 The federal judge once slammed by President Donald Trump as being a “Mexican” who was incapable of being impartial has sided with Trump in his bid to move ahead with construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. 
 
 Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel on Tuesday rejected arguments by the state of California and a coalition of environmental groups, who said the Trump administration had improperly ignored environmental laws in its push to build the wall. 
 
 Judge Gonzalo Curiel San Diego Superior Court 
 
 Curiel said in his 101-page ruling that such decisions should be left to other branches of government, not the judiciary. He quoted U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in saying political matters "are entrusted to our Nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.” 
 
 Related: Who is Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel? 
 
 Curiel, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama, made it clear his ruling centered on whether the administration had the authority to build a border wall, not on the wisdom of that decision. He described the "heated political debate" surrounding the project and added: "In its review of this case the Court cannot and does not consider whether underlying decisions to construct the border barriers are politically wise or prudent." 
 
 The case grew out of a 1996 law, and its amendments, that gave the executive branch power to construct a wall in and near San Diego and to waive environmental review when "necessary to ensure expeditious construction." 
 
 The law also limited any federal court reviewing challenges to the construction to only consider Constitutional violations, not challenges based on the environmental laws. 
 
 Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly called for a waiver of the environmental reviews last August and the plaintiffs--California, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and the Animal Legal Defense Fund all sued, saying the Kelly had overstepped his authority. 
 
 Experts provided declarations for California and the environmental groups, suggesting that the construction — on 15 miles of border in San Diego and another three miles near El Centro — could harm the Tijuana Estuary, along with rare, threatened and endangered species. 
 
 Border Patrol agents patrol the US-Mexico border prior to an Easter mass at the fence separating the two countries at Friendship Park on April 16, 2017 in San Ysidro, California. Sandy Huffaker / AFP - Getty Images file 
 
 Curiel said the state and environmentalists did not meet the high threshold for holding up the construction: showing that Kelly had acted in excess of his powers. 
 
 The plaintiffs had argued that Trump’s Department of Homeland Security had violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Coastal Zone Management Act, by not properly consulting with California and other stakeholders on the environmental consequences of the construction in the Golden State. 
 
 Curiel agreed that the "belated contact with stakeholders reduces the practical benefit of the consultation process." But he said that the failures were not enough to show that Kelly and an interim director of Homeland Security had overstepped their authority. 
 
 “While unlimited judicial review would assure compliance with all legal requirements,” wrote Curiel, who sits on the U.S. District Court in San Diego, “it would defeat the purpose of the law to expedite the construction of border barriers and roads in areas where they are needed. 
 
 California Attorney General Xavier Becerra renewed his complaint that the Trump White House was “ignoring laws it doesn’t like in order to resuscitate a campaign talking point of building a wall on our southern border." 
 
 Related: Environmentalists sue to block Trump border wall 
 
 "A medieval wall along the U.S.-Mexico border simply does not belong in the 21st century.” Becerra said in his statement, noting that California officials were reviewing their options. 
 
 Another plaintiff in the case, the Center for Biological Diversity, announced that it would appeal. “The Trump administration has completely overreached its authority in its rush to build this destructive, senseless wall,” said Brian Segee, a senior attorney with the group. "They’re giving unprecedented, sweeping power to an unelected agency chief to ignore dozens of laws and crash through hundreds of miles of spectacular borderlands. This is unconstitutional and shouldn’t be allowed to stand.” 
 
 Related: Taco trucks to bad hombres: 7 times Latinos figured in Trump's campaign 
 
 Trump had said in June 2016, during the presidential campaign, that Curiel could not fairly judge a pair of class-action lawsuits brought against the real estate magnate for the operation of his for-profit Trump University. The candidate said Curiel would be biased, because he was a Mexican and would be upset by Trump's positions on immigration. 
 
 Trump also branded him a "hater" and "very hostile." 
 
 Curiel was born in Indiana to parents who were immigrants from Mexico. Trump's remarks prompted outrage from critics, who said he was refusing to acknowledge the judge was an American and capable of impartiality, merely because of his ethnic roots.
– President Trump says California won't get its border wall until the entirety of the wall is approved for construction. California is almost certainly OK with that. “I have decided that sections of the Wall that California wants built NOW will not be built until the whole Wall is approved,” Reuters quotes Trump as tweeting on Wednesday. But it's unclear exactly why Trump thinks California wants a border wall, as the state sued the federal government to stop construction of said wall. In fact, in the very same tweet Trump referred to the lawsuit after a federal judge ruled against the state of California and environmental groups. “Big victory yesterday with ruling from the courts that allows us to proceed," he tweeted. "OUR COUNTRY MUST HAVE BORDER SECURITY!” California and environmental groups argued John Kelly, then secretary of Homeland Security, overstepped his powers when he waived environmental reviews for the border wall, which experts say could harm threatened and endangered species, NBC News reports. US District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel ruled they weren't able to prove that. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Curiel is the same "Mexican" judge Trump claimed couldn't be objective because of his heritage, according to Politico. Trump also called Curiel, who was born in Indiana, a "hater" and "very hostile." Curiel ruled a decision on the wall should be left up to politicians, not the courts. "It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices,” he wrote in his decision.