Supreme Court Denies Cert in Border Wall Case

From NewsPirates (cert petition here):

border-fenceThe Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to the completion of the border fence between the US and Mexico, Fox News reports. Environmental groups, an Indian tribe, and the city of El Paso brought the challenge, contending that a fence will cut off access to the Rio Grande for religious, cultural, and municipal purposes. The Obama administration had encouraged the court to reject the case.
The petitioners also objected to the fence because its authorization, under then-Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, required Congress to waive federal, state, and local laws applying to the agency. “If allowed to stand,” the petitioners’ brief stated, the “order would constitute an unprecedented expansion of agency authority to preempt state and local law without clear congressional authority and without any oversight by any court.

Supreme Court Cert Petition in Border Fence Case

The case is captioned County of El Paso v. Napolitano (No. 08-751). Ysleta del Sur Pueblo is one of the petitioners. SCOTUSblog has it as one of the “petitions to watch” for the April 17 conference.

From SCOTUSblog:

Docket: 08-751
Title: El Paso, Texas, et al., v. Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, et al.
Issue: Whether the grant of authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to “waive all legal requirements” necessary to ensure rapid construction of a border fence is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power or sufficient to preempt state and local law.