Texas border buoys

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal court in Texas partially dismisses the federal government’s lawsuit against the state over its “buoy barrier” in the Rio Grande, which was installed in the national water boundary “without any federal authorization.” While the United States can proceed with claims under the federal Rivers and Harbors Act, it cannot pursue claims based on the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo because the treaty is “not self-executing” and does not “provide any specific standard or rule of decision for a domestic court to follow.”