Governor Relishes Court Fight with Texas
Small Business that Buoys Would Drown
Capitol Inside
July 8, 2023
After vowing to never close businesses again during a pandemic, Texas Governor Greg Abbott bragged on Saturday about a policy that's going to kill a taxpaying constituent's company with the stringing of giant orange buoys in the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass.
Abbott copied the headline from a Houston Chronicle story into the opening line of a Twitter post before sharing the visions of grandeur he harbors on the floating barrier in the next four lines.
"Abbott sued over plan to deploy buoys in the Rio Grande," Abbott tweeted from a third-person perspective. "We will see you in court.
And don't think the Travis Co. Court will be the end of it.
This is going to the Supreme Court.
Texas has a constitutional right to secure our border."
The governor would consider it to be a win-win if the policy draws the attention of the nation's highest court. A win or loss at the Supreme Court would be irrelevant to Abbott for all practical purposes based on his history. But the historic judicial battle that Abbott foresees would pit him against President Joe Biden and the federal government - not Epi’s Canoe and Kayak Team - the plaintiff in the suit to stop the state's bid to put a fence in the river.
The firm's owner, Jessie Fuentes, filed the case in Travis County on Friday when he contended that the buoys would destroy the business, which revolves on river tours and lessons for kayaks and canoes. Fuentes argued that Abbott doesn't have the authority to impede private enterprise on the river the way the governor is trying to do.
But Abbott has overstepped the bounds of authority repeatedly with the state police and military initiative Operation Lone Star. The Biden administration has ignored the Texas leader's constant insults and accusations while treating Abbott as a noisy nuisance for the most part.
If the White House looks the other way again on the buoys, Abbott will have the luxury of focusing on the river enterprise Epi's as a singular adversary in the state's fight to keep the big orange ball floatillia on the waters like a makeshift wall. The Republican governor's taunting rhetoric might not impress base conservatives as much when it's aimed at a small business in his own state versus a Democratic president and the federal government.
Abbott has failed to acknowledge a substantial fall in migrant apprehensions in Texas since Biden implemented a new restrictions policy at the start of the year. Abbott claims in tweets almost every day that Texas is holding the line on immigration in the midst of Biden's border crisis. The governor had no problem however when migrant rates surged at the southern border when Donald Trump was president in 2019.
more to come ... |
