Environmental groups lost in a federal court in San Diego earlier this year when they tried to convince a judge to stop the Trump administration from waiving environmental procedures to build new segments of a border wall.
On Thursday, environmentalists asked the Supreme Court to consider taking on their case against the U.S. government as it continues ramping up border wall projects along the boundary with Mexico.
"The border area is filled with endangered species that don’t occur anywhere else in the country whether they’re jaguar or ocelot as well as protected public lands," said Brian Segee, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.
The Department of Homeland Security has argued that it needs to replace an aging border fence along a stretch of the San Diego Sector.
The waivers were implemented in 2005 under the REAL ID Act that allowed border wall projects to circumvent environmental rules.
