It’s a win for Biden and his DOJ. A federal judge ruled that Texas Governor Greg Abbott must remove the floating buoy barrier he deployed in the Rio Grande River without asking for federal permission. Abbott’s deadline is the end of next week.

Judge David A. Ezra, a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, was nominated in 1988 by President Reagan. He is sitting by a permanent designation of Chief Justice John G. Roberts on the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in order to help with that court’s workload. You may have heard that the courts are a little busy in Texas, what with Biden’s border crisis and all clogging up the system. Anyway, I like to know who put a judge on the bench and you should, too. Elections have consequences.

Ezra ruled on Wednesday in favor of the DOJ’s argument that Governor Abbott violated the federal Rivers and Harbors Act when he deployed the buoy barrier near Eagle Pass through Operation Lone Star without getting clearance from the Army Corps of Engineers. Governor Abbott contends that he has the constitutional right to secure the state’s border.

In his ruling, Ezra mentioned a post on Governor Abbott’s X account, formerly Twitter, that declared he didn’t think he had to ask for permission. The judge said otherwise.

“Unfortunately for Texas, permission is exactly what federal law requires before installing obstructions in the nation’s navigable waters,” Ezra said in his decision ordering the barriers out of the river near Eagle Pass by next Friday.

More here: https://t.co/7SauJBerSL

— Jeremy Wallace (@JeremySWallace) September 6, 2023

There ya go.

Judge Ezra said that Congress determined that the Rio Grande River was navigable long ago and no other body can change that designation. That may be but where the buoy barrier is located is pretty shallow water. See the picture above with the headline of this post? That is the Rio Grande River and the buoys. You can see the people wading across. Maybe kayaks and canoes navigate the river at that point but it would be dicey for boats.

“Once a water is found to be navigable by Congress, it remains so until Congress, not the courts, declares otherwise,” Ezra wrote.

In addition, Ezra disputed the state’s claim that the buoys were not subject to the federal Rivers and Harbors Act, saying the “floating barrier interferes with or diminishes the navigable capacity.”

The governor posted a three word response with a copy of his formal statement.

Texas will appeal. pic.twitter.com/jgeZ3Gt3OV

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 6, 2023

Within minutes of the judge’s ruling, Abbott was filing an appeal. He vows to take the case as far as he can. “Texas is prepared to take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Abbott said his actions are justified through Operation Lone Star because Joe Biden refuses to do his job and secure the southern border.

Abbott is focused on making the case about federal immigration policy, while the judge is narrowly focused on the Rivers and Harbors Act. That act has been around for more than a century and seems to require the Army Corps approval to put up barriers in the water. The first round goes to DOJ.

“I will do whatever I have to do to defend our state from the invasion of the Mexican drug cartels and others who are trying to come into our country illegally,” Abbott said last month in a speech to Republican officials. “I will protect our sovereignty.”

What else is Abbott to do? At every turn, Biden and his minions try to stop him from protecting Texas. Now we wait for the appeal to play out.