It has been about five months since we took a look in on Texas SB 4, a law that purports to grant Texas Rangers the right to usurp federal US Border jurisdiction -- and erect savage concertina wire barriers, the principal goal of which was to maim people without papers who sought a better life, by swimming the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass / Shelby Park, Texas.
Several of my commenters thought that the fact of a second Tangerine administration would mean the US would simply dismiss the litigation against Texas, and end the matter. What was missed in those suggestions was that private plaintiffs, including people without papers (including several children) had joined the suit, as maimed/injured parties. The Tangerine 2.0 parties cannot foreclose those people's rights, to a redress of their grievances / injuries.
So the appeal rumbles on. At this point the only modification to the injunctive orders provides that Texas authorities may not be ordered NOT to "cooperate" with federal ICE/DHS agents. They may aid ICE agents -- but not directly arrest -- any people that they encounter on the US side of the Rio Grande. Of course they may provide humanitarian aid. But there hasn't been a single instance of that, in over three years. So here is where it sits, according to the ACLU's latest letter in the Fifth Circuit:
. . .Defendants [Texas (MAGA) Gov. Abbott; Tangerine 2.0 BoP] note that the Eighth Circuit vacated its opinion in United States v. Iowa, 126 F.4th 1334 (8th Cir. 2025). The court concluded the appeal as to the United States was moot. No. 24-2265, 2025 WL 1140834, at *1 (8th Cir. Apr. 15, 2025). But the court recognized that the appeal as to the private plaintiffs was not moot. See Iowa Migrant Movement for Just. v. Bird, No. 24-2263, 2025 WL 1140762, at *1 (8th Cir. Apr. 15, 2025), vacating 2025 WL 319926, at *1 (8th Cir. Jan. 24, 2025). The same is true here. ECF No. 252 at 2-3.
Nor is vacatur warranted here. In Iowa, the court of appeals had resolved the merits of the appeal in its published opinion. That case therefore involved a typical application of United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U.S. 36 (1950), as Iowa stood to lose its opportunity to seek further review of the panel’s decision. See 2025 WL 1140834, at *1 (8th Cir. Apr. 15, 2025). Here, Defendants seek vacatur of the Court’s stay opinion, but the time for seeking further review of that is long since past, so Munsingwear is plainly inapplicable. See ECF No. 252 at 3.
Defendants also submit the transcript from a status conference in district court. That discussion underscores Plaintiffs’ position that the court’s January 31 order only confirmed that the “injunction does not bar Texas officials from cooperating with the federal government.” Id. at 7; see Tr. at 11. Defendants suggest that the district court’s comments indicate some change of view on the legality of S.B. 4. Not so. The court’s point was that Texas’s proffered justification -- the supposed dereliction of federal authorities“ -- has been rectified,” id. at 12-13, further undercutting the State’s rationale for S.B. 4, see ECF No. 252 at 6.
Finally, Plaintiffs note that two more courts have joined the unanimous rejection of laws like [Texas] S.B. 4. See ECF No. 84, Idaho Organization of Resource Councils v. Labrador, No. 25-cv-178 (D. Idaho); ECF No. 67, Florida Immigrant Coalition v. Uthmeier, No. 25-cv-21524 (S.D. Fla.). . . .
Now you know. Things are generally looking up, here -- for the future of ordered liberty, in America. Sanity is making a comeback for everyone not completely (and irrationally) mesmerized by the Tangerine 2.0 cult of personality (which now draws its chalked-up circle. . . to EXCLUDE Elon Musk's persona, and his both bad and a precious few good ideas) -- and that's a decidedly good. . . thing. Trump's grip is weakening -- by the day.
[To be clear, I mean that already (at Day 3!), the Silicon Valley tech bros (and more importantly, their collective PAC and dark money billions) are picking sides. The early returns look like Musk's biz greed is besting Trump's irrational tariff- and border- lunacy. So -- come 2026 -- many of those MAGAts who voted in Congress FOR Trump's measures. . . will be sent home / packing. They will be primaried by the tech bros aligned with Elon.] Not perfect; but good. And after all, the perfect is the enemy of the good.
Onward, grinning.
नमस्ते
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