Texas Responds to Justice Department’s Suit in Floating Border Wall Case
In the brief, Gov. Greg Abbott invokes the “invasion clause” of the U.S. constitution, among other statutory arguments.
Published by The Lawfare Institute
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On Aug. 9, Texas filed a brief in response to the Justice Department’s suit against Gov. Greg Abbott (R) over his state’s installation of floating barriers in the Rio Grande without consulting or seeking approval from the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
The brief invokes, among other statutory arguments, the “invasion clause” of Article I, § 10, cl. 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which states that “[n]o state shall, without the Consent of Congress, . . . engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.” Citing this clause, the brief argues that “Texas retains sovereign authority to defend itself in the event of invasion, and this Court should construe the Rivers and Harbors Act narrowly in view of the constitutional questions that right poses.”
Read Gov. Abbott and the State of Texas’s response here or below:
