Supreme Court rules in favor of U.S.-Mexico border fence
Posted on Wednesday, June 17 @ 01:07:05 EDT
Topic: Department of Homeland Security
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 The Supreme Court rejected on Monday a legal challenge to the U.S. Homeland Security secretary's capability to decide the completion of a 500 mile-long fence on the United States - Mexico border, at the Arizona-Sonora perimeter.
The judicial instance refused to hear an appeal by two environmental groups challenging a 2005 law that former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff promoted to expedite border fence construction.
Topics = Illegal Immigration, Supreme Court, border fence construction, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
June 16, 2009
Aurelia Fierros
Clarity Digital Group LLC d/b/a examiner.com
Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club presented the appeal to challenge the law in the grounds of a violation of the constitutional separation of powers principles, labeling it as an unconstitutional repeal of federal laws and as an unprecedented power grab.
In 2005, Congress gave Chertoff the authority to waive environmental and other laws in order to contribute to the national security strategy, including the power to revoke decrees and regulations obstructing efforts to secure the borders, such as those against the completion of fences and other barriers. Last April, Chertoff issued waivers for various projects across Mexico’s border with the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
In October of 2008, Chertoff issued a waiver in the Arizona case, after a federal judge had ruled a temporary suspension of further construction of the fence. The fence section in question is located in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, which biological diversity includes more than 250 species of migratory birds.
As the Supreme Court has denied the appeal, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection estimates this fence section will be finished by the end of 2009. The progress of the overall 500 miles-project in dispute, is nearly 93 percent complete, most of it erected in Arizona.
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