WASHINGTON — The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to lift a lower court injunction blocking border wall construction through the Big Bend Sector of Texas, the latest turn in a monthslong legal fight over one of the border's most remote and environmentally sensitive regions.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone, of the Western District of Texas, granted a preliminary injunction earlier this month barring construction within the Big Bend Sector — including areas within a mile of the Rio Grande and inside state and national parkland — until the Department of Homeland Security demonstrates compliance with environmental and other applicable laws. The injunction came in a lawsuit filed in April by Big Bend-area residents and a national environmental group challenging the administration's use of waiver authority to bypass standard environmental review.

THE GOVERNMENT IS REPEATING ARGUMENTS THE JUDGE ALREADY REJECTED.

A 'Hail Mary' at the Supreme Court

The government's emergency application, filed directly with the justices after lower courts declined to pause the injunction, leans on waiver authority under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which the administration argues lets it bypass certain environmental reviews in the name of border security. Attorneys for the plaintiffs have called the government's Supreme Court filing a "hail mary," arguing it largely repeats arguments Judge Cardone already considered and rejected when she issued the injunction.

The plaintiffs contend the waivers amount to an improper end-run around Congress, invoking the "major questions doctrine" — a legal theory the Supreme Court itself has increasingly relied on in recent years to curb what it views as agencies taking overly broad action without explicit congressional authorization. Big Bend National Park and the surrounding region are home to protected desert ecosystems and limited river access that environmental groups say would be permanently altered by wall construction.

What's Next

The Supreme Court has not indicated when it will rule on the emergency application, though such requests are typically decided within days to a few weeks. If the justices grant the government's request, construction crews could resume work in the Big Bend Sector almost immediately; if they decline, the underlying case over the waivers' legality will continue to play out in Judge Cardone's courtroom, likely for months.