Supreme Court clears Trump's Big Bend border wall construction in Texas to resume

The Supreme Court lifts the halt

The US Supreme Court on Monday, 9 November 2026, paused a lower-court order that had stopped all construction-related activity in the Big Bend region of Texas. POLITICO reports the justices ruled 8-1 on the Trump administration's emergency appeal, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson the only dissenter. The court issued an unsigned opinion. The halt covered Big Bend National Park and nearby land in state and private hands, and the wider legal challenge continues in a lower court.

In favour of the administration8

Dissenting1

In favour of the administration

8 votes

Dissenting

1 votes

Data from the article text

Why the justices sided with the government

According to POLITICO, the court pointed to a 2005 law that lets the Homeland Security secretary waive environmental and other legal requirements in areas of high illegal entry. The majority summarized the challengers' case in one sentence:

“Respondents claim that construction in the Big Bend Sector will diminish their ability to use and enjoy the area.”

The justices added that Congress had shown a clear preference for speedy construction over the harms raised in the suit. Earlier this year, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem found that the administration did not have to comply with dozens of mostly environmental laws, citing the flow of migrants and drugs. The administration argues that illegal crossings and drug seizures continue in Big Bend. Government court filings put the number of people apprehended trying to enter the United States in the Big Bend Sector between 2021 and 2025 at more than 89,000, and about 15 percent of drugs seized along the border in recent years were recovered in the sector.

How the project reached court

Crews began work in August, including road construction on park land, according to POLITICO, while Le Soir reports that bulldozers began digging in the park that month. Customs and Border Protection halted work after local protests, and that pause ended on 30 September, so construction could resume at any time. The challenge was filed in April by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church and a regional river guide. In October, Judge Kathleen Cardone, a federal district judge in El Paso, blocked the project and ruled that the administration would have to comply with the laws before construction could resume. Cardone wrote in her opinion:

“As Plaintiffs have demonstrated, without an injunction, they and the public at large stand to permanently lose protected wilderness that benefits tourism, recreation, farming, ranching, spirituality, aesthetic sensibilities and education.”

Opposition and the project's scope

Bipartisan opponents, including environmental groups, ranchers and local residents, argue that the 30-foot steel walls, vehicle barriers and new roads waste money, threaten the local economy and could be replaced by surveillance technology such as drones. The project covers a stretch of more than 500 miles of road, cameras, vehicle barriers and sensors, according to The Washington Post, and the administration has backed off a plan for a wall inside the park. Le Soir cites a project cost of $1.7 billion, while AP reports that Congress's Republicans funded the wider effort with $46 billion last summer. Laiken Jordahl of the Center for Biological Diversity called the ruling horrific and said this was the first time broad environmental laws were waived inside a national park.