The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to move forward with construction of a border wall along hundreds of miles in the Big Bend region of southwest Texas.
A federal judge in Texas had blocked construction of the barriers, which had drawn local objections. In an emergency application to the justices, Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the justices to intervene and allow the project to proceed.
Mr. Sauer called the lower court decision “baseless,” and asserted that halting the section of the wall at issue would leave “a 300-plus-mile gap in border defenses” and “act as a dangerous magnet for cartels and other bad actors to exploit.”
A river boat guide, a church preservation group and an environmental group, along with local landowners, sued in April to stop the administration’s plan to construct barriers across more than 500 miles along the frontier with Mexico. The plan included erecting some barriers in Big Bend National Park, and it has prompted months of protests and behind-the-scenes lobbying.
The groups argued that the Trump administration had exceeded its powers under the Constitution and that the plan posed a threat to the local environment.
A federal judge in El Paso sided with the groups on Oct. 2, finding that the government had likely exceeded its authority by waiving federal environmental laws and other measures to to speed up construction.
Judge Kathleen Cardone, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, read her two-page order from the bench and ordered the Trump administration to “comply with all applicable laws.”
Lawyers for the Trump administration then asked Judge Cardone to pause her ruling, calling it “unprecedented” and “overbroad,” while they filed an appeal to the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, Judge Cardone responded that she would keep her block in place, prompting the Trump administration’s emergency request to the justices.
The justices did not immediately announce a briefing schedule for the case.
