The Supreme Court cleared the way on Monday for the Trump administration to build border barriers through the Big Bend region of West Texas, including Big Bend National Park.
The court voted 8-1 to lift a lower court order that had halted construction while a lawsuit against the project plays out. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to publicly dissent, and she gave no reason.
In an unsigned, five-page opinion, the court said the government’s interest in border security outweighs “any aesthetic, recreational, and environmental harm” the challengers say construction will cause.
The ruling lets the Department of Homeland Security press ahead with more than 300 miles of barriers and roads across the remote Big Bend sector. The administration has said most of the work will take place on private land. The national park itself will get a 17-mile vehicle barrier system instead of the 30-foot pedestrian wall planned elsewhere.
The case began when the Center for Biological Diversity, a local river guide and a group working to preserve a historic adobe church in Ruidosa, Texas, sued over waivers issued by Homeland Security to speed up construction. The waivers set aside a series of environmental and conservation laws under a 1996 statute aimed at expediting border barriers in areas of high illegal crossings.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and his predecessor Kristi Noem issued the waivers between February and July. The administration paused work in August after the project drew bipartisan criticism over its effect on the park’s terrain and wildlife.
In October, US District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso blocked the project, finding the waivers lacked clear congressional authorisation and violated the major questions doctrine. The Supreme Court’s decision lets construction resume while that challenge continues in the lower court.
Source: Reuters
