The nation’s highest court is scheduled to decide if it will hear what is known as the whooping crane case. At stake in the litigation: the habitat of the endangered 5-foot-tall, spindly-legged birds who make their winter home in Texas.

As the parties wait to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case, both sides of the issue have gotten support—and the litigation has pitted the state of Texas against the Harris County Attorney’s Office, a rare occurrence.