Well. Sanity made a comeback this afternoon in West Texas.
Gov. Abbott has been shown the gate -- and a swift kick in the seat of his pants. . . by a very able Judge Ezra (a Reagan appointee, BTW -- but a former US Marine!):
. . .Governor Abbott announced that he was not “asking for permission” for Operation Lone Star, the anti-immigration program under which Texas constructed the floating barrier. Unfortunately for Texas, permission is exactly what federal law requires before installing obstructions in the nation’s navigable waters. See 33 U.S.C. § 403.
Texas’s construction of the floating barrier has violated two of the three courses of conduct proscribed by Section 10 of the RHA. The first clause of § 10 prohibits “[t]he creation of any obstruction not affirmatively authorized by Congress, to the navigable capacity of any of the waters of the United States.” Id. The second clause makes it unlawful “to build or commence the building of any wharf, pier, dolphin, boom, weir, breakwater, bulkhead, jetty, or other structures in any port, roadstead, haven, harbor, canal, navigable river, or other water of the United States, outside established harbor lines, or where no harbor lines have been established, except on plans recommended by the Chief of Engineers and authorized by the Secretary of the Army. . . .”
[T]he Court rejects Texas’s arguments and grants in modified form the relief the United States requests (Texas at its expense, must by September 15, 2023, reposition the barrier to the bank of the Rio Grande on the Texas side of the river). . . .
[T]he Court is directing that the buoy barrier be moved from the main waters of the Rio Grande River to the riverbank, rather than removal entirely from the river, so that the barrier does not impede or impair in any way navigation by airboats or other shallow draft craft along the Rio Grande River. The evidence has established that this can be done in a rather expeditious manner, as the Governor himself ordered movement of the buoy barrier, which the federal government maintained was in part in Mexican waters to a position closer to the United States side of the river. . . . [Ed. Note: There will be a final ruling removing it altogether,very shortly.]
On the bank -- it should be noted, there -- on solid ground, it may be very easily traversed, by draping heavy serapes and blankets over it, and or walking around it. What a stupidly cruel, and ultimately impotent. . . putz this Gov. Abbott is.
Sure. . . the moron may go ahead and appeal. But in the mean time, his obstruction of a federal waterway. . . will now vanish. If his Texas state employees don't do so by September 15, the feds may simply destroy it, and send Texas the bill in full. Flawless.
नमस्ते
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