The US Supreme Court suspended a lower court’s block on border construction in Texas’s Big Bend region. The Trump administration can resume work while litigation continues over its use of environmental waivers. The dispute concerns the homeland security secretary’s powers under a 1996 immigration law and the scope of federal courts’ review.
The US Supreme Court on 9 November allowed the Trump administration to resume border construction in Texas’s Big Bend region, suspending a lower court injunction while litigation continues.[1], [2]
The region runs along the Mexican border and includes Big Bend National Park. Federal judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso had halted work in a challenge to the administration’s use of environmental and conservation waivers.[1]
At issue are provisions of a 1996 immigration law allowing the homeland security secretary to waive legal requirements to expedite specified border barriers. The law limits district court review to alleged constitutional violations. The justices found the government highly likely to succeed in arguing that the lower court lacked jurisdiction over the challengers’ major-questions argument, which concerns the scope of delegated executive power.[1]
Plaintiffs include the Center for Biological Diversity, an organisation protecting a historic church in Ruidosa, and a river guide and landowner. They argue that construction without waivers must comply with endangered-species, environmental-assessment and historic-preservation laws. The court gave greater weight to the government’s border-security interests than the alleged environmental and aesthetic harms. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson alone stated that she would reject the application, without giving reasons.[1]
