A federal appeals court sided with Texas on Tuesday, saying that the state does not have to remove a water buoy barrier placed in the Rio Grande to deter illegal immigration.

In its decision, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Biden administration failed to provide evidence that the barrier needed to be removed, vacating a lower court’s order. The Justice Department had filed a lawsuit against Texas accusing it of violating federal law after it placed a chain of floating buoys along a stretch of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. 

“Cognizant of our role as a court of review and of the reality that a preliminary injunction is an exceptional remedy, we hold that the district court clearly erred in finding that the United States will likely prove that the barrier is in a navigable stretch of the Rio Grande,” Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote. “We cannot square the district court’s findings and conclusions with over a century’s worth of precedent, which on a fair and faithful reading renders inapplicable or unpersuasive the evidence on which the district court relies.”

Willett said the lower court sided with the DOJ, saying that the barrier threatened human life and safety, impaired navigation, and violated the Rivers and Harbors Act. He said that neither justification was supported by the evidence. 

The decision specifically criticized the district court attributing the barrier to drownings in the river. 

“The district court again set aside reason by inferring that the barrier caused the deaths of two people found nearby—one at the southern end of the barrier and the other three miles upriver — from news articles that said nothing of the sort,” Willett wrote.

In a dissent, Circuit Judge Dana Douglas wrote that the lower court’s decision was backed by the evidence.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Republican Governor Greg Abbott celebrated the decision.

“We fought to keep these barriers in the water, and with the Fifth Circuit’s decision, that is exactly where they will remain,” Abbott said. “This fight is far from over. Texas will continue to defend our constitutional right to secure our southern border to keep our state and the nation safe.”

Further litigation on the barriers is expected to begin on August 6. 

The bomb that killed Ismail Haniyeh, the top leader of Hamas, in Iran early Wednesday was planted several weeks ago, according to a new report.

Haniyeh traveled to Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and had been seen at the event in the hours before the attack.

Sources told The New York Times that assassins planted the explosive roughly two months ago in a Tehran guesthouse protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps where Haniyeh had stayed before.

Breaking News: Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader assassinated in Iran this week, was killed by a bomb smuggled into his guesthouse months ago, Middle Eastern officials said. https://t.co/O8sfQVjnNE

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 1, 2024

When it was confirmed that Haniyeh was in his room at the guesthouse, the explosive was detonated remotely early on Wednesday, killing him and a bodyguard, officials said.

Photos showed that the explosion, which resulted in a loud noise, shook the building, shattered windows, and knocked down part of an exterior wall.

The report said a team of medics rushed to the room and declared Haniyeh dead. They tried, unsuccessfully, to revive the bodyguard.

Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy commander of Hamas in the Gaza Strip who was also in Tehran, arrived at the scene and saw Haniyeh’s corpse, officials said.

Sources told the newspaper the room next door, where Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah was staying, was not badly damaged in the blast.

The report emphasized that it was not clear how the bomb made its way into the guesthouse. It also dismissed early speculation of a missile strike.

Iranian and U.S. officials have pinned the assassination on Israel, which has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the report.

However, sources told the newspaper that Israeli intelligence officials briefed U.S. and other Western governments on the operation after it took place.

A top Israeli intelligence official had vowed to “take out” Hamas, including in foreign countries, after the group’s October 7 terrorist attacks.

In retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh this week, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a direct strike on Israel.

Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday that a July 13 strike in Gaza killed Mohammed Deif, the commander of the terrorist group Hamas’ military wing, who was second only to Yahya Sinwar in the strip.