The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a plea by environmentalists to stop
the Bush administration from bypassing federal laws to speed
construction of a fence along the border with Mexico.
The high
court Monday, turned down the challenge to the Department of Homeland
Security using authority granted to it by Congress in 2005 to waive
certain environmental and land management laws to install the fencing.
The
case involved a section of fence that was being built in a national
conservation area - the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area -
in Arizona.
Environmentalists feared the project would disrupt
wildlife habitats. The Associated Press reports that section of the
border fence has since been build.
Also today, the Supreme Court
announced it will review a federal appeals court ruling that limits the
Navy's use of sonar in training exercises off the coast of California.
The Bush administration wants the ruling to be reviewed.
Defense
officials have argued that the anti-submarine sonar technology is
crucial to national security. Biologists have long said that sonar can
disturb, injure or even kill marine mammals including dolphins and
whales.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.