Supreme Court lets border wall construction continue in west Texas as legal fight advances

Court clears way for work

The Supreme Court ruled that construction could proceed while litigation continues. A federal judge in El Paso had issued a temporary injunction blocking work on 30-foot steel barriers, patrol roads, surveillance systems and other infrastructure.

The unsigned, five-page decision said the lower-court judge did not have authority to intervene. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissenter. The court also said federal law lets Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin waive environmental protections and conservation laws.

Big Bend draws objections

The plans include Big Bend National Park, a region of canyons and desert that has prompted bipartisan opposition. Critics say new infrastructure could harm the environment, Indigenous sites, wildlife and a tourism-based economy.

The lawsuit was brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, a local nonprofit seeking to preserve a historic church near the U.S.-Mexico border, and a landowner who could lose property. They argue the plans are unconstitutional and would irreparably harm residents.

Competing arguments over security

The administration asked the Supreme Court in late October to lift the injunction, arguing that a gap in border defenses could attract cartels and other dangerous actors. Solicitor General John Sauer called the injunction baseless and unprecedented, and said an unbarriered stretch could become a crossing funnel.

Big Bend's rugged terrain has historically seen fewer attempted crossings. The nearly 500-mile Big Bend Sector accounts for more than a quarter of the U.S.-Mexico border, yet CBP data show it regularly has the fewest encounters along the Texas border.

Residents and advocates respond

Local residents have protested the plans, including at an intersection in Marfa. Laiken Jordahl of the Center for Biological Diversity said the ruling would allow contractors and bulldozers to return and warned of damage to canyon walls and desert. The high court's ruling allows construction to continue for now; the underlying legal dispute remains before the courts.