Key facts
- The Supreme Court lifted Judge Kathleen Cardone's order halting barrier construction while the lawsuit proceeds.
- Plaintiffs include the Center for Biological Diversity, a Big Bend-area river guide and a group preserving a Ruidosa church.
- The administration said Big Bend National Park would get a 17-mile noncontiguous vehicle barrier system, not 30-foot pedestrian barriers.
- Cardone found Big Bend has by far the lowest migrant apprehension rate along the border and that the waivers lacked clear congressional authorization.
- The Justice Department told the Supreme Court that Cardone's ruling was baseless and that the waiver authority is a clear delegation from Congress.
- The administration said most construction in the Big Bend sector, spanning more than 300 miles, will be on privately owned land.
The US Supreme Court on November 9, 2026 granted the Trump administration's emergency request to lift a federal judge's order that had halted construction of border barriers in a remote part of West Texas that includes Big Bend National Park. The action lets construction proceed while a lawsuit against the project plays out.
The suit was brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, a Big Bend-area river guide and a group seeking to preserve a historic church in Ruidosa, Texas, which says its adobe structure is threatened by the construction. The plaintiffs challenged waivers issued by the Department of Homeland Security that expedited roads and barriers in the region by setting aside environmental and conservation laws.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and his predecessor Kristi Noem, both Trump appointees, issued the waivers between February and July and found the region to be an area of high illegal entry requiring additional barriers. The administration also said border officials seized large quantities of drugs in the region and that cartels operate south of it in Mexico. The waivers came under a 1996 federal law meant to speed barriers in areas of high illegal crossings.
The administration said most construction in the Big Bend sector, spanning more than 300 miles, will be on privately owned land. Big Bend National Park would get a 17-mile noncontiguous vehicle barrier system rather than the 30-foot pedestrian barrier slated for other areas, according to the administration.
In August the administration paused construction in Big Bend after bipartisan criticism over effects on the park's landscape and wildlife. Crews had begun clearing land in the park for roads and border security infrastructure, prompting protests and lawsuits.
In October, US District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso blocked the project, finding the waivers lacked clear congressional authorization and violated the major questions doctrine, which the Supreme Court has used to invalidate executive actions of vast economic and political significance unless Congress clearly authorized them. Cardone noted Big Bend has by far the lowest rate of migrant apprehensions along the border. "Therefore, if the Big Bend Sector is an area of high illegal entry, so is every other sector, and the waiver authority would apply to the entire US-Mexico border," the judge said.
The Justice Department told the Supreme Court that Cardone's ruling was baseless. "The secretary's waiver authority reflects a crystal-clear, indisputably valid express delegation from Congress that the executive has used for decades to expedite border-wall construction," the administration said in a filing.