PHOENIX – A federal magistrate is no longer accepting the excuse of the federal government shutdown to let it delay a lawsuit to stop construction of new walls along the southern border.

James Marner acknowledged he had granted an earlier request by attorneys for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to put off the challenge by the Center for Biological Diversity. He said at the time that he had to respect her arguments that lawyers from the Department of Justice, which is representing Noem, are legally prohibited from working while they are not being paid.

But Marner said none of that apparently has halted construction along a 27-mile stretch through the grasslands of the San Rafael Valley. And he specifically cited a declaration of Russell McSpadden, southwest conservation advocate f

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