WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is rejecting an appeal from environmental groups trying to stop President Donald Trump from building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, even as other legal action against the wall is ongoing.
FILE – This Oct. 26, 2017 file photo shows prototypes of border walls in San Diego. A federal appeals court will hear arguments by the state of California that the Trump administration overreached by waiving environmental reviews to speed construction of the president’s prized border wall with Mexico. At issue Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018, before a three-judge panel in Pasadena, Calif., is a 2005 law that gave the Homeland Security secretary broad authority to waive dozens of laws including the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act. (AP Photo/Elliott Spagat, File)
The justices on Monday left in place a ruling by a federal judge in San Diego who rejected challenges claiming that the Trump administration improperly waived laws requiring environmental and other reviews before construction can begin.
The judge in the San Diego case was Gonzalo Curiel. Trump criticized Curiel during the presidential campaign for his handling of fraud allegations against now-defunct Trump University. Trump had already proposed a border wall and suggested the Indiana-born judge’s Mexican heritage meant he wouldn’t be fair to Trump in the fraud lawsuit.
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