U.S.Litigation
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to let Big Bend border wall construction resume
Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the Supreme Court on October 21, 2026, to pause a federal judge's order that halted border wall construction in the Big Bend region of southwestern Texas. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso barred the construction on October 2, finding challengers likely to show the waivers exceeded the Homeland Security secretary's authority.
Key points
- The government asked the justices to pause the order and to grant review and summarily reverse it.SCOTUSblog
- Homeland Security secretaries issued three waivers of environmental and conservation laws in 2026 for construction in the Big Bend region.SCOTUSblog
- The challengers are an environmental group, a local landowner and a group formed to preserve a church.SCOTUSblog
- Cardone relied on the major questions doctrine; Sauer argued Congress clearly authorized the waivers.SCOTUSblog
- Sauer called the trial court's order "baseless" and "unprecedented."SCOTUSblog
Sources1 article across 1 outlet
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LitigationU.S.Tex.U.S.W.D. Tex.EnvironmentalImmigrationAdministrativeFor practitionersFor governance