The state, and several environmental organizations within it, have urged the Ninth Circuit to overturn a lower court that nixed their challenge to the Trump administration’s planned border wall. The appellants argue that the border wall, and all the construction activities that come alongside it, must first undergo environmental impact assessments.

The appellate brief argues that the court was wrong in holding that the Department of Homeland Security was within executive branch authority in waiving environmental laws to construct the wall. In February, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the Department could forego application of more than 30 environmental laws with respect to replacement of three miles of existing border fence near Calexico, another 15 miles near San Diego, and the construction of prototype walls all along the 2,000 mile line between California and Mexico.

In its decision upholding the Department’s waiver of the environmental laws, the court held that it was “aware that the subject of these lawsuits, border barriers, is currently the subject of heated political debate…as to the need, efficacy, and the source of funding for such barriers. In its review of this case, the court cannot and does not consider whether underlying decisions to construct the border barriers are politically wise or prudent.”

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