Developing Story: Federal Judge Jeffrey Brown Gave The State Of Texas A Big Victory By Ruling Against Biden Admin’s Environmental Agenda

District Judge of the United States, Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed by Trump, gave out a “big victory” to Texas and Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton through his verdict which states that President Joe Biden and his management surpassed their powers under the “Clean Water Act.” 

Earlier this year, Paxton submitted a complaint against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Biden administration on how they revised the “waters of the United States” act. 

The suit states: 

“The Clean Water Act (“CWA”) requires federal permits to discharge pollutants into ‘navigable waters’. ‘Navigable waters,’ in turn, is defined to mean ‘the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.’ Waters that do not fit into this definition are not within federal jurisdiction and may still be regulated by states and tribes.”

The suit added: 

“By this challenge, the Plaintiffs assert that by amending the definition of ‘waters of the United States,’ as provided in the Final Rule, the Federal Agencies unconstitutionally and impermissibly expand their own authority beyond Congress’s delegation in the CWA— intruding into state sovereignty and the liberties of the states and their citizens. The Final Rule also lacks clarity, leaving those wishing to identify the ambit of federal power over dry land or minor water features at the mercy of an expensive, vague, and arbitrary analysis, lest they face a staggering criminal or civil penalty.”

Paxton also mentioned a ruling given by the Supreme Court in Rapanos v.United States, which declined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “assertion of expanded authority over non-navigable, intrastate waters that are not significantly connected to navigable, interstate waters.”