Case: Friends of the Ruidosa Church v. Mullin etal

3:26-cv-01099 | U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

Filed Date: April 16, 2026

Case Ongoing

Clearinghouse coding in progress

Case Summary

On April 16, 2026, Friends of the Ruidosa Church and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas challenged the federal government's invocation of sweeping legal waivers to construct a massive border wall. The defendants included the Secretary of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Plaintiffs alleged that on February 17, 2026, DHS unconstitutionally invoked Section 102(c) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) to waive environmental and historic protection laws, along with dozens of other federal laws⁻. This action was taken to expedite construction of the "Big Bend Wall Project," a barrier spanning over 250 miles along the Rio Grande in Texas's Big Bend region⁻. The complaint alleged that this project would destroy iconic sections of the Rio Grande corridor and represented part of a larger executive program to achieve a complete, cross-continental border barrier⁻. The lawsuit asserted four constitutional claims: violation of the Major Questions Doctrine, violation of the Nondelegation Doctrine, violation of the Take Care Clause, and violation of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause⁻. The plaintiffs sought comprehensive relief including declaratory and injunctive relief to halt the project, a declaration that the legal waivers were unconstitutional, and attorneys' fees.

This case is ongonig.

People

For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73199706/parties/friends-of-the-ruidosa-church-v-mullin-etal/

Judge(s)

Cardone, Kathleen (Texas)

Attorney for Plaintiff

Kumar, Kate Gibson (Texas)

Park, Alana Lani (Texas)

Rynders, Dustin (Texas)

Judge(s)

Cardone, Kathleen (Texas)

Attorney for Plaintiff

Kumar, Kate Gibson (Texas)

Park, Alana Lani (Texas)

Rynders, Dustin (Texas)

Attorney Contact Information via CourtListener

Documents in the Clearinghouse

Documents in this case

1 3:26-cv-01099	Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief Friends of Ruidosa Church v. Mullin	April 16, 2026	April 16, 2026 Complaint

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Docket

See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73199706/friends-of-the-ruidosa-church-v-mullin-etal/

Last updated July 28, 2026, 3:17 p.m.

ECF Number	Date	Description	Link
1	April 16, 2026	COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF ( Filing fee $ 405 receipt number ATXWDC-21772377). No Summons requested at this time, filed by Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior, Center for Biological Diversity. (Attachments: # 1 Corporate Disclosure Statement-Friends of Ruidosa Church, # 2 Corporate Disclosure Statement-Center for Biological Diversity, # 3 Notice of Related Case, # 4 Civil Cover Sheet)(Rynders, Dustin) (Entered: 04/16/2026) 1 Corporate Disclosure Statement-Friends of Ruidosa Church View on PACER 2 Corporate Disclosure Statement-Center for Biological Diversity View on PACER 3 Notice of Related Case View on PACER 4 Civil Cover Sheet View on PACER	Clearinghouse
2	April 16, 2026	MOTION to Appear Pro Hac Vice by Dustin Rynders on behalf of Emma Yip ( Filing fee $ 100 receipt number ATXWDC-21777373) by on behalf of Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior. (Attachments: # 1 Proposed Order)(Rynders, Dustin) (Entered: 04/16/2026) 1 Proposed Order View on PACER	RECAP
3	April 16, 2026	MOTION to Appear Pro Hac Vice by Dustin Rynders on behalf of Shannon Labuschagne ( Filing fee $ 100 receipt number ATXWDC-21777404) by on behalf of Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior. (Attachments: # 1 Proposed Order)(Rynders, Dustin) (Entered: 04/16/2026) 1 Proposed Order View on PACER	RECAP
4	April 16, 2026	MOTION to Appear Pro Hac Vice by Dustin Rynders on behalf of Zeynep J. Graves ( Filing fee $ 100 receipt number ATXWDC-21777455) by on behalf of Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior. (Attachments: # 1 Proposed Order)(Rynders, Dustin) (Entered: 04/16/2026) 1 Proposed Order View on PACER	RECAP
5	April 16, 2026	REQUEST FOR ISSUANCE OF SUMMONS by Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior. Summons to U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of Homeland Security-U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas. (Rynders, Dustin) (Entered: 04/16/2026)	RECAP
6	April 16, 2026	Summons Issued as to Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Attorney and U.S. Attorney General (mc4) (Entered: 04/16/2026)	RECAP
7	April 16, 2026	NOTICE of NOTICE OF RELATED CASE FILED IN CASE NO. 3:26-cv-00976-KC; CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY v. U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION by Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1)(Rynders, Dustin) (Entered: 04/16/2026) 1 Exhibit 1 View on PACER	RECAP
	April 16, 2026	To be Referred to EP Mag Judge
	April 16, 2026	Case Assigned/Reassigned
	April 16, 2026	Case assigned to Judge Kathleen Cardone. CM WILL NOW REFLECT THE JUDGE INITIALS AS PART OF THE CASE NUMBER. PLEASE APPEND THESE JUDGE INITIALS TO THE CASE NUMBER ON EACH DOCUMENT THAT YOU FILE IN THIS CASE. (mc4)
	April 16, 2026	If ordered by the court, all referrals will be assigned to Magistrate Judge Castaneda (mc4)
8	April 18, 2026	ORDER GRANTING IN PART 2 Motion to Appear Pro Hac Vice as to Attorney Emma Yip. Signed by Judge Kathleen Cardone. (mc4) (Entered: 04/20/2026)	RECAP
9	April 18, 2026	ORDER GRANTING IN PART 3 Motion to Appear Pro Hac Vice as to Attorney Shannon Eva Labuschagne. Signed by Judge Kathleen Cardone. (mc4) (Entered: 04/20/2026)	RECAP
	April 18, 2026	Text Order GRANTING 4 Motion to Appear Pro Hac Vice.IT IS ORDERED that attorney Zeynep J. Graves may appear on behalf of Plaintiffs. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Zeynep J. Graves, if he has not already done so, shall immediately tender the amount of $100.00, made payable to: Clerk, U.S. District Court, in compliance with Local Court Rule AT-1(f)(2). Pursuant to our Administrative Policies and Procedures for Electronic Filing, the attorney hereby granted to practice pro hac vice in this case must register for electronic filing with our court within 10 days of this order. Registration is managed by the PACER Service Center entered by Judge Kathleen Cardone. (This is a text-only entry generated by the court. There is no document associated with this entry.) (KC)
10	May 5, 2026	NOTICE OF COMPLIANCE by Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior re 9 Order on Motion to Appear Pro Hac Vice, 8 Order on Motion to Appear Pro Hac Vice (Yip, Emma) (Entered: 05/05/2026)	RECAP
11	June 11, 2026	AMENDED COMPLAINT against All Defendants amending 1 Complaint,., filed by Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior, Center for Biological Diversity.(Yip, Emma) (Entered: 06/11/2026)	RECAP
12	June 16, 2026	NOTICE of Attorney Appearance by Alexander James Yun on behalf of Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Attorney Alexander James Yun added to party Markwayne Mullin(pty:dft), Attorney Alexander James Yun added to party U.S. Customs and Border Protection(pty:dft), Attorney Alexander James Yun added to party U.S. Department of Homeland Security(pty:dft) (Yun, Alexander) (Entered: 06/16/2026)	RECAP
13	June 16, 2026	NOTICE of Consent to Amend Complaint by Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security re 11 Amended Complaint (Yun, Alexander) (Entered: 06/16/2026)	RECAP
14	June 18, 2026	SUMMONS Returned Executed by Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior, Center for Biological Diversity. All Defendants. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit U.S. Attorney, # 2 Exhibit Sec. Mullin, # 3 Exhibit DHS, # 4 Exhibit CBP, # 5 Exhibit AG, # 6 Exhibit Civ. Process Clerk)(Yip, Emma) (Entered: 06/18/2026) 1 Exhibit U.S. Attorney View on RECAP 2 Exhibit Sec. Mullin View on RECAP 3 Exhibit DHS View on RECAP 4 Exhibit CBP View on RECAP 5 Exhibit AG View on RECAP 6 Exhibit Civ. Process Clerk View on RECAP	RECAP
15	June 22, 2026	Joint MOTION for Entry of Scheduling Order Deadlines by Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (Attachments: # 1 Proposed Order)(Yun, Alexander) (Entered: 06/22/2026) 1 Proposed Order View on RECAP	RECAP
16	June 23, 2026	ORDER GRANTING 15 Motion for Entry of Scheduling Order Signed by Judge Kathleen Cardone. (dt) (Entered: 06/23/2026)	RECAP
17	July 10, 2026	Unopposed MOTION FOR LEAVE to File a Supplement to 11 Amended Complaint by Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1 - Supplement to Amended Complaint, # 2 Proposed Order)(Yip, Emma) Modified on 7/10/2026 (mc4). (Entered: 07/10/2026) 1 Exhibit 1 - Supplement to Amended Complaint View on PACER 2 Proposed Order View on PACER	RECAP
18	July 13, 2026	FIRST AMENDED AND SUPPLEMENTED COMPLAINT for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief against Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, filed by Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior, Center for Biological Diversity.(mc4) (Entered: 07/13/2026)	RECAP
	July 13, 2026	Order on Motion to Supplement
	July 13, 2026	Text Order GRANTING 17 Motion to supplement entered by Judge Kathleen Cardone. (This is a text-only entry generated by the court. There is no document associated with this entry.) (KC)
19	July 17, 2026	MOTION for Summary Judgment by Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Ruidosa Church, Danny William Miller Junior. (Attachments: # 1 Appendix Proposed Undisputed Facts, # 2 Appendix Appendix of Evidence: Volume 1, # 3 Appendix Appendix of Evidence: Volume 2, # 4 Proposed Order, # 5 Exhibit Certificate of Service)(Yip, Emma) (Entered: 07/17/2026) 1 Appendix Proposed Undisputed Facts View on RECAP 2 Appendix Appendix of Evidence: Volume 1 View on RECAP 3 Appendix Appendix of Evidence: Volume 2 View on PACER 4 Proposed Order View on RECAP 5 Exhibit Certificate of Service View on RECAP	RECAP