Supreme Court lets Trump resume the Big Bend border wall, 8-1, citing $500,000 a day in delay costs

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, Nov. 9, cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume building a border wall, roads and barriers in the Big Bend region of West Texas, which includes parts of Big Bend National Park. SCOTUSblog and The Texas Tribune both report the ruling.

What the court did

In a four-page unsigned opinion, the justices put on hold an order by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone, who on Oct. 2 had temporarily barred construction until the government complies with environmental and other laws. According to SCOTUSblog, only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted, without explanation, that she would have denied the request, which the Tribune describes as an 8-1 ruling. The court declined the administration's separate request to reverse Cardone outright without full briefing.

The pause is temporary. The Tribune reports it lasts until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case or the dispute is settled in the lower court in El Paso. It is one of six lawsuits against the Big Bend construction, the Tribune says.

The legal reasoning

Cardone had found the challengers likely to win their argument that the Homeland Security secretary lacked authority to waive environmental laws in Big Bend, using the "major questions doctrine," the idea that Congress must speak clearly before an agency claims power of vast significance. The justices said the government is "exceedingly likely to prevail" on its argument that she could not hear that claim, because it is a statutory one and Congress limited district courts' power over such challenges. "There is no such thing as a 'constitutional' major-questions claim," the court wrote, per SCOTUSblog.

On the balance of harms, the order says the government's interest "outweighs any aesthetic, recreational, and environmental harm alleged by respondents." The court cited costs of "nearly half a million dollars" per day while work was halted, which the administration argued could not be recovered.

The numbers behind the dispute

• Share of crossings. The Tribune says the Border Patrol's Big Bend sector covers 517 miles of the border and about 1.6% of migrant apprehensions nationwide. Cardone's opinion, as quoted by SCOTUSblog, put the sector at over 25% of the border but between 0.3% and 2.2% of apprehensions.
• Contracts. The Tribune reports the administration has awarded $7.5 billion in contracts to firms to pave roads, build barriers and install technology in the area.
• Cost of delay. The administration said the injunction cost about $500,000 a day, the Tribune reports. Over the roughly five weeks from Oct. 2 to Nov. 9, that works out to more than $17 million at the government's own rate, our arithmetic, not a figure either outlet gave.

The two sides

Laiken Jordahl of the Center for Biological Diversity, whose group brought one of the suits, called the decision "horrific," saying it lets contractors "bulldoze pristine desert and dynamite canyon walls before the courts have even decided whether this destruction is legal," according to the Tribune. The administration argued Congress clearly authorized both building barriers and waiving laws to speed them, SCOTUSblog reports.

What it means for business

For contractors on the Big Bend awards, work can restart without a court-ordered stop for now. For the Brewster, Presidio and Jeff Davis county tourism and outfitter businesses that depend on the park and the Rio Grande, the construction zone is the open question, and the outcome still turns on whether the court takes the case. Check our US news section for updates.

Sources: SCOTUSblog, "Supreme Court allows Trump administration to continue border wall construction," Nov. 9, 2026; The Texas Tribune, "Supreme Court allows Big Bend border wall project to resume," Nov. 9, 2026. Photo: P. Hughes, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. This article is news reporting, not legal or investment advice.