A federal judge has partially rejected a request from Texas officials to dismiss a federal lawsuit seeking to dismantle a controversial 1,000-foot buoy wall on the Rio Grande. U.S. District Judge David Ezra partially denied Texas’ motion to dismiss the suit, allowing part of the federal argument to proceed. Specifically, the judge ruled that the federal claim that the buoys are not permitted under the U.S. Rivers and Harbor Act can move forward.
Texas officials had argued that the buoy project, installed last summer to slow a surge in migrant border crossings, was permissible under the act. They claimed that the law applies to people and corporations, but not to a state project. However, Judge Ezra rejected that claim, arguing that the Supreme Court has historically interpreted the act to allow civil suits against states.
The part of the federal claim that Judge Ezra rejected was an argument based on the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which prohibits construction that can impede navigation on the Rio Grande. Ezra ruled that the treaty does not specify what measures should be taken upon a violation or provide a specific standard for a domestic court to follow.
In his ruling, Judge Ezra emphasized that Texas is a sovereign state, not a sovereign country, and cannot claim self-defense from an invasion at the border to justify a long-term usurping of congressional authority. A hearing in the case is scheduled for May 15.
