Supreme Court Backs Biden for Now in Dispute With Texas Over Border Barrier

The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration on Monday in a dispute over a concertina-wire barrier erected by Texas along the Mexican border. The justices temporarily lifted an appeals court’s ruling that had generally prohibited federal officials from removing the wire.

The Supreme Court’s brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the court’s three liberal members to form a majority.

The dispute is part of an escalating legal battle between Texas and the Biden administration over border security.

Since 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott, a third-term Republican, has mounted an aggressive multibillion-dollar campaign to impose more stringent measures at the southern border to deter migrants from entering the country. Those include erecting concertina wire along the banks of the Rio Grande as well as installing a barrier of buoys in the river.