By The Republic Standard News Staff
Category: Republic
Tags: Immigration, Supreme Court, Donald Trump, Department of Homeland Security
The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to permit border-wall construction to resume in the Big Bend region of southwestern Texas, including portions within Big Bend National Park.
The request seeks to halt and overturn an order from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone that temporarily blocked the Department of Homeland Security from proceeding with the project. Cardone issued the temporary bar Oct. 2 and released a written opinion Oct. 14.
Cardone concluded that the challengers were likely to succeed on a claim invoking the major questions doctrine. The lawsuit was brought by an environmental organization, a local landowner and a group formed to preserve a church.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer called the lower court’s construction halt “baseless” and “unprecedented.” The administration argued that the district court lacked authority to apply the major questions doctrine to the dispute.
Sauer told the justices that Congress gave the Homeland Security secretary authority both to erect barriers at the border and to set aside otherwise applicable legal requirements when necessary to speed construction.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her successor, Markwayne Mullin, issued three waivers in 2026 covering environmental and conservation laws connected to the Big Bend work.
The Big Bend region accounts for nearly one-fourth of the U.S.-Mexico border. From 2021 through 2025, Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 89,000 immigrants attempting to enter the United States illegally in the region.
Former President Joe Biden largely stopped border-wall construction after taking office in 2021. President Donald Trump moved to restart construction after returning to the White House in 2025.
The administration asked the Supreme Court to pause Cardone’s order while also summarily reversing it.