Constitutional law professor predicts Biden administration's victory in Texas border lawsuit
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) — Texas built its barrier of buoys in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass as part of Operation Lone Star, a multi-billion-dollar program state leaders say is designed to boost border security.
But the Biden administration says the buoys go against federal law.
SMU constitutional law professor Jeffrey Kahn told CBS News Texas the law is clear. "The lawsuit is on very, very firm legal ground."
In its lawsuit filed in federal court Monday afternoon, the Biden administration said the buoys violate the Rivers and Harbors Act, which it states, "Prohibits the creation of any obstruction not affirmatively authorized by Congress to the navigable capacity of any of the waters of the United States."
The lawsuit cites 19 specific examples in the federal statute, "or any other obstacle or obstruction."
"The pictures that were taken by a Border Patrol officer and included in the complaint show that heavy construction equipment was necessary to put these things into the river," Kahn said. "If that's not an obstruction. I don't know what it is."
In a letter sent to President Biden hours before the lawsuit, Governor Greg Abbott denied the state violated federal law. "To state the obvious, that statute does not describe any action by the State of Texas."
Gov. Abbott continued to say, "Texas will see you in court, Mr. President."
The governor rejected the lawsuit on Fox News Monday night. "They're using some obscure statute to try to stop us from deploying those buoys. It's not grounded in the law whatsoever. We believe we have the right to do it."
The White House press secretary blasted the governor's policy. "Instead of coming to the table and trying to figure out a way to work together, he continues to do this really cruel, unjust, inhumane way of moving forward with a system that has been broken for decades."
Abbott said the state will take this all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But Kahn said the state recently lost a legal challenge to the federal government on immigration.
"Just a month ago, Texas was told in pretty convincing terms by the United States Supreme Court that it didn't have standing to tell the federal government how to prioritize its immigration arrests and deportation proceedings," Kahn said. "I think we're going to get the same result."
At this time, the state hasn't responded to the Biden administration's new lawsuit in court.