Work will be allowed to continue on the construction of a border wall between the United States and Mexico as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court decision to not take up a case seeking to block construction on a portion of the wall.
The court declined to issue a public statement regarding its decision.
Earlier this year a number of environmental groups had filed suit contending that the Homeland Security Department lacked the authority to not take into consideration environmental concerns related to the wall’s construction.
Those groups said that the continued construction of the wall had the potential of harming the habitats for endangered and threatened species, including jaguars and Mexican grey wolves.
More specifically those same groups objected to the use of waivers implemented by Homeland Security to speed up the building of the wall.
The Supreme Court decision comes just days after the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a Trump Administration move to transfer around $2.5 billion in funds for various Defense Department infrastructure projects for the wall’s construction.
But a Supreme Court ruling last year permitted those funds to be used until the matter could be finally decided.
To date, at least 200 miles of a project that is designed to stretch from southern California to Texas has been completed.
By Garry Boulard
