(TheConservativeTimes.org) – A federal district court issued a preliminary injunction against the state of Texas in the case United States v. Abbott, where the Biden administration is suing the state for installing buoy barriers in the Rio Grande River, supposedly creating a safety hazard and posing a risk for ships trying to navigate the river.
The Biden administration is arguing that the move by the Texas state government violates the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. Texas has maintained that the installation of buoys does not violate the law, but also cites one of the “invasion” provisions in the U.S. Constitution as a justification for its actions.
The state is currently relying on Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the Constitution, which forbids the states from engaging in warfare without the consent of Congress, unless that state is actively under invasion. Texas is arguing that the Biden administration’s immigration policies, which have resulted in a massive uptick in illegal immigration, constitutes a valid invasion of the state, and has therefore installed the buoys in an attempt to prevent migrants from crossing the Rio Grande.
If the courts accept Texas’ argument, it could change the way invasion and war are understood legally. If Texas is allowed to deploy its military forces due to a migrant “invasion,” it could set a dangerous precedent in which states are allowed to wage war against foreign countries if they perceive certain actions to be an invasion against them.
In a ruling on Wednesday, September 6, however, federal district Judge David Alan Ezra rejected Texas’ argument and concluded that the state violated the Rivers and Harbors Act. He also rejected the state’s invasion argument, designating it as a primarily “political” question that had very little to do with the actual law. Because the court ruled that the invasion is a political question and not a legal one, Texas cannot unilaterally decide what is an “invasion” and what isn’t, and therefore cannot go to war with other countries such as Mexico.
Copyright 2023, TheConservativeTimes.org
