The Supreme Court is allowing US Border Patrol agents to remove razor wire deployed by Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott’s security initiative at the US-Mexico border while the state’s legal challenge to the practice plays out.

The vote was 5-4.

The justices’ order is a major victory for President Joe Biden in his ongoing dispute with Abbott over border policy, which had become especially fraught in recent days after three migrants drowned in a section of the Rio Grande that state officials have blocked agents’ access to, prompting the administration to further press for the high court’s intervention.

A federal appeals court last month ordered the Border Patrol agents to stop removing razor wire along a small stretch of the Rio Grande while court proceedings continue, and the Justice Department asked the justices earlier this month to step in on an emergency basis to wipe away that order, which they did on Monday.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh said they would have denied the federal request.

  • @Boddhisatva
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    475 months ago

    Wow, only four of the justices are complete morons. Who knew?

    • @Manifish_Destiny
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      145 months ago

      Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Only 4 of the judges are partisan. Jury is still out on moron status.

  • Atelopus-zeteki
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    415 months ago

    Why on Earth are the TX agents who put the razor wire up not required to remove it, and restore any environmental damage to a pristine condition?

  • @Wrench
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    5 months ago

    So what was the excuse the dissenters gave? Free access by federal agents and emergency responders to a federal border on presumably federal land, seems pretty cut and dry.

    • @Jackcooper
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      5 months ago

      I’m trying to figure that out myself

      Edit: none of them explained their vote. Lol. I really can’t understand any argument for the state having authority over the border over the federal government.

      • @Wrench
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        35 months ago

        And IIRC, the border control has jurisdiction over 100 miles from any border (water/land), which covers some ridiculously high portion of the US population, like 80%.

        So yeah, 4/9 of our highest court’s justices seem to have zero ground to stand on for their decision.

  • @[email protected]
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    5 months ago

    I don’t agree with Abbotts position here. Border Patrol has the legal responsibility to patrol the national border - and unfortunately, they’ve extended that range to 200 miles inland, which is fucking bonkers.

    I am sympathetic to Texans wanting to things done their way, as it’s their state but it’s a national border. If Texas wanted to patrol their border with Oklahoma, I would consider that their prerogative, just as I think it’s Cali’s prerogative to do so with Az.

    Im sus of Paxton or Abbott actually wanting to solve any issues here tho. This feels like more grandstanding and politicking, throwing fodder to the media controversy machine. If Texans were set on securing the border to the manner they see fit, why don’t they fall back, idk fifty fucking feet and defend that line?

    Seems like that would allow BP to do what they need to do, and if there’s just a “second wall” behind, that would allow Texas to do what it wants to do. Fucking Constantinople had 3 sets of walls that stood unpenetrable for 1000 years, its not like multiple walls is historically unheard of.

    But, I’m not convinced Republicans want a solution towards immigration. I think they just want the theatrics so they can point at something when you ask why nothing’s getting done (a placation I traditionally ascribe to democrats; for example DC renaming a street BLM Boulevard instead of addressing any of the raised issues)

  • SolidGrue
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    5 months ago

    Let’s play a game: how did the Supreme Court screw us with this ruling?

    I’ll go first: no barricading cities off from the MAGA horde?

    Who wants to go next?

    • @ChonkyOwlbear
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      85 months ago

      The court usually throws out a couple minor “good news” rulings before deciding something particularly heinous.

      • SolidGrue
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        85 months ago

        Well, yeah. Chevron is looking pretty bleak so there’s that PLUS now there’s no barricades against the MAGA horde.

        Our only hope might be a patriotic blood clot

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    25 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    The justices’ order is a major victory for President Joe Biden in his ongoing dispute with Abbott over border policy, which had become especially fraught in recent days after three migrants drowned in a section of the Rio Grande that state officials have blocked agents’ access to, prompting the administration to further press for the high court’s intervention.

    Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said that while the order is a victory for the Biden administration, the delay in issuing it raises future questions.

    “The result of Texas’s position would be that States across the country could invoke their laws to impede the federal government’s exercise of its authority,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in court papers.

    “If that injunction is left in place,” Prelogar stressed, “it will impede Border Patrol agents from carrying out their responsibilities to enforce the immigration laws and guard against the risk of injury and death, matters for which the federal government, not Texas, is held politically accountable.”

    In subsequent filings to the high court, Prelogar said that new barriers recently erected by Texas – including new fencing, gates and military Humvees – “demonstrate an escalation” of the state’s efforts to hamstring the government’s border patrol duties and “reinforce” a need for swift intervention in the matter.

    She also told the court that Texas was violating a critical part of the injunction that allows federal agents to cut wire to address medical emergencies, arguing that the drownings of two children and a woman earlier this month, as well as the rescue by Mexican officials of two other migrants on the US side of the Rio Grande, “underscore that Texas is firm in its continued efforts … to block Border Patrol’s access to the border even in emergency circumstances.”


    The original article contains 762 words, the summary contains 303 words. Saved 60%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!