The fight over the Texas border wall in Big Bend reaches the Supreme Court, as the administration asks to restart construction a judge stopped

A wall stopped by one judge in Texas is now in front of the Supreme Court. The Trump administration filed an emergency request on October 21 asking the justices to let construction restart while the lawsuit over it proceeds, the Associated Press reports. US District Judge Kathleen Cardone halted the work on October 2. Her order affects a roughly 500 mile stretch of the border in West Texas, running through the Big Bend region.

The legal question is about waivers. A federal law allows the Department of Homeland Security to waive certain regulations to build border barriers quickly. Landowners along the route and environmental groups sued, arguing the department applied those waiver powers beyond their intended limits. The administration answers that more barriers are necessary to strengthen border security and to keep unauthorized crossings from shifting into the region as enforcement tightens elsewhere.

The ground itself is part of the argument. Residents and conservation advocates have raised concerns about damage to natural areas, including Big Bend National Park, one of the most remote and least visited national parks in the continental United States. Property owners in the region face the more direct question of a federal barrier crossing ranch land their families have held for generations.

An emergency request asks the court to act fast and without the full briefing of an ordinary case. If the justices grant it, construction crews can go back to work while the underlying lawsuit continues in the lower courts. If they refuse, the wall in Big Bend stays stopped until the case is decided. The court has given no timetable for its answer, as of October 22.