Summary
The Supreme Court lifted a lower court order that had temporarily blocked the Trump administration from building a border wall and related infrastructure in West Texas’s Big Bend region. Construction can resume while the legal challenge continues; Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she would have denied the administration’s request.Key Facts
- The court said the injunction delayed construction and impeded the government’s border-security interests.
- The Big Bend sector covers more than 500 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border and includes Big Bend National Park.
- The administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone halted construction.
- The challengers include an environmental nonprofit, a riverboat guide and a religious organization.
- The challengers argue construction could damage protected landscapes, habitat, historic resources and private property.
- The Department of Homeland Security issued three waivers beginning in February to speed construction in parts of the Big Bend region.
- The waivers rely on a 1996 immigration law that allows the Homeland Security secretary to waive certain legal requirements to speed border construction.
