Mr. Abbott, a Republican, has refused to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that would allow the Biden administration to remove razor wire and other obstacles installed by the Texas National Guard along the border with Mexico. The governor’s goal is to prevent migrants, including asylum seekers seeking legal refuge, from crossing the Rio Grande. To do so, federal officials said, officers “physically prohibited” U.S. Border Patrol agents from even reaching at least one section of the border.
In a surprising statement last week, Mr. Abbott echoed the rhetoric of Confederate secessionists. He argued that Texas had a “right to self-defense” because the federal government “broke the United States’ compact with the state.”
But no state has the right to defy the Supreme Court. Mr. Abbott’s distraught declaration came two days after the court ruled 5-4 in favor of the Biden administration. By law, this ended months of conflict between the governor and the president.
Incredibly, however, 25 other Republican governors issued a statement Thursday supporting not only a usurpation of presidential power but also defiance of the nation’s ultimate authority over the Constitution and laws. “We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor Greg Abbott and the state of Texas,” the Republican governors declared.
One of them, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, explained her position to Fox News. “Texas and its 13 original colonies would never have signed the treaty that formed the first Constitution of the United States if they did not believe that their right to protect themselves and protect their people was protected.” she said. “So what Joe Biden is doing is threatening the sovereignty of our states.”
Bless her heart. Of course, Texas was not one of the original colonies. Although it was a Spanish territory when the Constitution was ratified in 1788, it was not established as a state until 1845.
But when it finally agreed, Texas agreed to abide by the same constitution, which states that federal law supersedes state law. Border security is a matter for Congress, the president and federal courts to decide and enforce, not a senior governor like Mr. Abbott.
What can Mr. Biden do to overcome Mr. Abbott’s defiance? A lot, if he wants.
In 1957, three years after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to desegregate public schools, Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas sent in the National Guard to ensure that the first nine black students were all white. from entering Little Rock Central High School. President Dwye D. Eisenhower warned Faubus to back off and abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling, but Faubus refused.
So Eisenhower acted. He cited the Insurrection Act of 1807, which sent troops from the 101st Airborne Division to escort black students to their new schools. He then federalized the entire Arkansas National Guard, taking control of the army out of Faubus’ hands.
In 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace pulled the famous “schoolhouse door” stunt by preventing the first two African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from enrolling at the University of Alabama. Executed. President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order federalizing the Alabama National Guard, again citing the Insurrection Act. The guard’s commander, fulfilling what he called a “sad duty,” told Wallace to stand aside.
Biden certainly would not like to federalize the Texas National Guard and take command away from Abbott. But Eisenhower and Kennedy were also unwilling to take that step. They tried hard to persuade Faubus and Wallace to obey the Supreme Court, but when the governor did not, the president did what he considered his duty.
Wallace’s histrionic defiance was first and foremost about raising his own national profile, and in that he succeeded. Abbott may be making a similar play. And let’s not forget that there is a real crisis at the border that Biden and a bipartisan group of senators are trying to alleviate by negotiating a series of reforms.
If they really care about securing their borders, Abbott and other Republican governors should be part of the solution. Brandishing rhetoric that sounds more like Jefferson Davis than Thomas Jefferson, they’re saying they’re part of the problem.
I understand that. They don’t like Biden and want to weaken him politically for re-election. But Biden has the duty and authority to uphold the Constitution. I hope the stupid political machinations of Mr. Abbott and others don’t force Mr. Biden into action.