TEXAS REIGNED IN: Divided Supreme Court gives Biden a border win
The Supreme Court has made a decision and they chose humanity (mostly).
President Joe Biden and his administration just scored a significant win for humane treatment on the southern border. Five of the nine Justices on the Supreme Court agree that Texas cannot be allowed to block federal agents from cutting through razor wire placed in the Rio Grande.
The Biden administration argues that the razor wire bouy fences are illegal, as well as inhumane, because they block the waterway. In fact, the legal argument hinges in part on the fact that the blockage prevents Border Patrol from reaching undocumented immigrants in order to arrest them!
Texas argues that the wires “serves as a deterrent” to illegal entry and “routes [immigrants] to safe, legal ports of entry.” When the feds began cutting through the wire, though, Texas went full militant, and has escalated to actually preventing Border Patrol agents from accessing certain areas. Courthouse News reported:
“Border Patrol says these conditions forced agents to cut through the wire. Texas saw these actions as trespassing and destroying the state’s property and sued the federal government. The Biden administration was ordered to cease its destruction of the wire barriers by an appeals court.”
The issue has been slowly making its way through the legal system, with the U.S. Court of Appeals issuing an order that forbids the Biden Admin from cutting and removing the wire, which the administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn, according to SCOTUS Blog.
Now, without fanfare or opinion, SCOTUS has done exactly that. Justices John Roberts, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson agreed — with Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh dissenting — that the injunction should be removed.
Though the ruling comes from the highest court in the nation, it doesn’t mean the matter is settled. This ruling does not address the legality of the razor wire, the militarization of the border, the rights of migrants or the access of Border Patrol.
It only overturns a single injunction that was put in place to maintain the status quo until courts can rule. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled the case to be heard in February.
Stay tuned.
