Supreme Court allows border wall construction in Big Bend region

The Supreme Court agreed to lift a district court order that temporarily stopped construction of the border wall and other infrastructure in the Big Bend sector.

Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume building a border wall and other infrastructure through a remote area of West Texas while litigation over the project moves forward.In an unsigned decision, the high court agreed to lift a district court's injunction that temporarily stopped construction of the wall and related infrastructure in the Big Bend sector, which covers more than 500 miles of the southern border and includes Big Bend National Park.Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she would have denied the Justice Department's request for emergency relief. In its five-page decision, the Supreme Court said in part that the lower court's order delays construction of the border barrier and roads in the Big Bend region and "impedes the Government from advancing its 'compelling interests' in border security and integrity." The challengers to the wall project "claim that construction in the Big Bend Sector will diminish their ability to use and enjoy the area," the court said.

"But Congress's enactment of [immigration law] — which permits the Secretary to waive the requirements of environmental-protection and other conservation laws — reflects a clear preference for expeditious border construction over the very harms respondents assert."The Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs that sued to stop wall construction, lambasted the Supreme Court's decision."The