The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that construction could continue on border barriers the White House is installing in the Big Bend Sector of West Texas, including in Big Bend National Park.
The court decision allows the administration to resume its efforts to erect barriers and put up surveillance equipment along a 500-mile stretch of the U.S. border with Mexico. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
Meanwhile, a lower court battle over the project’s legality continues.
The high court’s order pauses an October injunction from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso that had blocked construction while she weighed a legal challenge brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church and local river guide Danny William Miller, all represented by Earthjustice.
The Supreme Court justices noted that the challengers had claimed that construction in the Big Bend Sector would “diminish their ability to use and enjoy the area.” Nonetheless, the majority of justices found that federal law permits the Homeland Security secretary to waive laws aimed at environmental protection and conservation, reflecting “a clear preference for expeditious border construction over the very harms” raised by the challengers.
Plans for construction in Big Bend National Park have drawn strong bipartisan opposition in Texas and figured in the campaigns of both the Republican and Democratic U.S. House candidates seeking to represent the district containing the park. Democrat Katy Padilla Stout won the race handily over MAGA Republican Brandon Herrera, who opposed a wall, even though he supported the installation of new roads and surveillance equipment in the park.
This marks the first Supreme Court win for the Trump administration since the significant electoral losses it sustained in last week’s midterm elections. In response, West Texas activists and outdoor business owners called on newly elected Democrats to join the fight to defend the remote desert region, whose local economy depends on river access and tourism.
“We’re calling on all of you to stand up and defend the Texas border right now,” outdoor business owner Billy Bartko, a plaintiff in the case to halt the wall, said in an Instagram video. “This whole thing just reeks of corruption. You or I couldn’t get something to the Supreme Court in one week.”
Bartko questioned the Supreme Court ruling, arguing that it gives the executive branch “total power” over the judicial branch.
“To all of you justices who didn’t dissent to this, my question to you is: ‘Does the executive branch have all of the power over the judicial branch as well?'” Bartko asked. “Do we need any of you?”
He added: “I cannot believe this ruling. So, so corrupt and unjust.”
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