Supreme Court Stay Allows $7.5B Big Bend Barrier Program to Resume

Construction on a roughly $7.5 billion federal border barrier program in the Big Bend region of West Texas can resume after the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 9 stayed a lower court's injunction that had halted the work since Oct. 2. The program spans the Border Patrol's Big Bend Sector, which covers 517 miles of the Rio Grande, and reaches into Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Presidio, Brewster, Terrell and Val Verde counties.

In an unsigned opinion in Mullin v. Friends of the Ruidosa Church, No. 26A560, the court said the government is "exceedingly likely to prevail" on its argument that the district court lacked jurisdiction. The court found that the federal waiver statute allows only constitutional claims, and that claims the executive exceeded its statutory authority do not qualify. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she would deny the stay.