The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit temporarily halted an order to force Texas to remove the Rio Grande buoys.
The order to remove the buoys came from Judge David Alan Ezra of the U.S. District Court Western District of Texas – Austin Division on Wednesday.
Ezra’s ruling was only a preliminary injunction, not a final ruling.
The state of Texas immediately filed an appeal:
The equities overwhelmingly favor a stay: Texas’s sovereignty and self-defense interests are irreparably harmed even if Texas prevails on appeal. This case also presents serious legal questions with “a broad impact on relations between the states and the federal government.” Weingarten Realty Invs. v. Miller, 661 F.3d 904, 910 n.9 (5th Cir. 2011). Moreover, the district court erred on the merits.
The Fifth Circuit responded on Friday:
IT IS ORDERED that Appellants’ motion for administrative stay of the order of the Western District of Texas, Austin Division dated September 6, 2023, is GRANTED pending further order of the Court.
The buoys can stay until the Fifth Circuit hears the appeal of the district court ruling.
Texas officials installed the buoys with anchors by Eagle Pass, where border agents have encountered about 270,000 migrants in this fiscal year.
That number is lower than the encounters last year.
The DOJ accused Texas of violating the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899:
The United States alleges that Texas violated Section 10 of the RHA, 33 U.S.C § 403, by (1) erecting a structure in the Rio Grande River without authorization from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”), and (2) creating an obstruction to the navigable capacity of that waterway without affirmative Congressional authorization. (Id. ¶ 2.)
The International Boundary and Water Commission claimed Texas placed some of the buoys in Mexican waters.
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