Burningbird

Both the DOJ and Abbott have filed their closing arguments for the motion for a preliminary injunction.

Do you know those twisty straws that are somehow supposed to make drinking something cooler? Well, that’s Abbott’s filing, in a nutshell. Even after Judge Ezra told Texas to cut the crap about an invasion, that’s all that’s contained in their document.

And Texas keeps bringing up the Sackett vs EPA lawsuit, and in particular, Thomas’ note on navigability. But the Sackett case wasn’t about navigability, it was about surface connection between wetlands and federal waters.

No self-respecting lawyer should want their name to be appended to this document. And it’s a pure Thomas dog whistle.

And by all that’s holy is there ANY human being STUPID enough to believe that drug and human traffickers are going to be crossing the river? What? Are they strapping baggies of drugs onto people as they cross?

Can the media possibly for once, just once, call this out as bullshit?

US filing

Abbott’s joke

An interesting summary of the hearing, including transcript

Pet case again.

The hearing was today, and as expected, Ezra rejected any of Abbott’s claims about ‘invasion’.

He’ll rule on whether the buoys violate the Rivers and Harbors Act, and whether the Rio Grande is a navigable river. I expect him to rule in favor of the federal government.

But, this is Texas. And the Fifth Circuit does not like Ezra.

Texas Judge rejects Texas’ migrant ‘invasion’ defense in DOJ lawsuit over border buoys

My pet court case continues after Texas skullduggery in the dead of night.

Texas filed a motion for leave to file a ‘surreply’ in response to the US reply. Normally after motion, response, reply, the case is briefed and ready for the judge. But Texas has to get in one more shot, and it’s a crapsh0ot at that.

What caught my interest in this junk filing is a reference to Sacketts vs EPA. In the context of this case, it doesn’t fit…other than Thomas opening up the door for questioning ‘navigability’ and US control over navigable interstate waters.

Still concerns me.

But what becomes more interesting is the judge in this case, and his record with the Fifth circuit court of appeals.

David Ezra is a judge who took senior status and who Roberts brought over from Hawaii to help with the overburdened Texas court. Judge Ezra may have originally been appointed by Reagan, but he’s a solid judge. If you’re wondering what happened to the Texas absurd ‘fetal burial’ law, Judge Ezra is what happened.

And for his effort, he was actually personally attacked by members of the Fifth circuit court; specifically Edith Jones and Jim Ho.

Edith Jones, who said in 2013 that ‘racial groups like African-Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime.’ Jim Ho, appointed by Trump and arguably considered the worst judge in the entire federal system. He doesn’t write legal opinions, he writes political commentary.

This should be a slam dunk case. But the very nature of how profoundly broken our court system is—demonstrated by this previous attack on Judge Ezra, and also demonstrated by how degraded the Fifth Circuit is—leaves me concerned about the case.

I do know that Judge Ezra is going to be extremely meticulous in his handling of this case. He has a very hostile circuit court ready to toss aside the law and do whatever Abbott wants.

US Judge defends actions as trial on Texas’ fetal burial law begins.

The Judge set a hearing on the preliminary injunction for August 22 in the US vs Abbott case.

In the meantime, the US _just_ filed a notice that Texas has been moving the barrier in the dead of night. Most likely trying to drag it out of Mexican territory. It won’t matter, because it will just be moved the next storm.

But it does demonstrate Abbot’s total disregard of the law.

This is what happens when Republicans believe they own the courts.

Court Document