SCOTUS Rejects Request to hear Environmental challenge to President Trump’s Border Wall Construction

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP WINNING …

President Donald Trump won a major victory in the building of the border wall between the United States and Mexico when on Monday U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from a trio of conservation and environmental groups seeking to block construction. The justices declined to consider the groups’ appeal of a lower court ruling that paved the way for the federal government to begin replacing border fencing in two locations and building wall prototypes.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from a trio of conservation and environmental groups seeking to block construction of President Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The justices declined to consider the groups’ appeal of a lower court ruling that paved the way for the federal government to begin replacing border fencing in two locations and building wall prototypes.

The judge, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, rejected the groups’ challenge to a 1996 federal law that gives the government the power to waive environmental laws to more quickly begin work on a wall. The Department of Homeland Security sought to sidestep the laws as it pursued the projects related to construction of the border wall.

The conservation groups said the 1996 law violated the Constitution because of the power it granted the federal government.

Curiel, however, said the Trump administration did not exceed its authority when it waived environmental laws as part of its efforts to build the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Trump administration asked the justices not to hear the case.