The Supreme Court has cleared the Trump administration to restart construction of border barriers and roads in the Big Bend region of West Texas, an area that includes Big Bend National Park. In an unsigned 8-1 order issued on Monday, the justices paused an injunction from US District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso, who had blocked the project on October 2. The court said the law at issue likely prevents judicial review of the claims in the lawsuit, and that the government's border-security interest outweighs the aesthetic, recreational and environmental harm alleged by the challengers. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter and did not give a reason.

The ruling is a big boost for the White House, but it isn't the final word, because the order lets construction continue while the case moves forward on appeal. At the center of the fight is Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's decision to waive environmental and conservation laws for the project, which the Justice Department says Congress clearly authorized. Environmental groups and other opponents say the work threatens one of the country's most remote and treasured landscapes, and the Center for Biological Diversity called the decision horrific. The questions now are how fast construction can ramp up, how much of the Big Bend region will be changed, and whether the courts will ever fully weigh the challengers' arguments.