The Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump to continue border wall construction in the Big Bend region of Texas – including Big Bend National Park – on Monday, pausing a lower court ruling that temporarily blocked that work while it considers whether the administration had the authority to bypass environmental requirements.
The court decided the case in an unsigned opinion . Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only noted dissenter, but she did not explain her reasoning.
The challengers “claim that construction in the Big Bend Sector will diminish their ability to use and enjoy the area,” the court wrote. But Congress had enacted the law in a way that “reflects a clear preference for expeditious border construction over the very harms respondents assert.”
The administration is attempting to speed construction of “300-plus” miles of border barrier and roads in the region. Relying on a federal law that gives the government the power to “waive all legal requirements” to ensure quick construction in areas of “high illegal entry,” the Department of Homeland Security bypassed laws dealing with historic preservation, the environment and Native American artifacts that would normally apply.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
