Supreme Court Won’t Get Involved in Border Fence Construction

The Supreme Court today announced it won’t get involved in a lawsuit brought by El Paso and other Texas counties against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano over construction of a border fence intended to deter illegal immigrants.

The Texas local governments had argued that Michael Chertoff, Napolitano’s predecessor, improperly waived dozens of federal laws that could have blocked or slowed construction of the fence.

This is the second time the Supreme Court has refused to get involved in a legal challenge to the Homeland Security secretary’s authority to speed construction of the fencing. This time, SCOTUSblog reports, “the Justices examined the new case at eight separate private meetings, then still came to the conclusion that it would not rule on it.”

The high court offered no explanation for declining to review the case, which is typical.

Congress authorized (pdf) the fence in an effort to slow illegal immigration, and authorized Chertoff to waive the federal laws in 2005.