The root of today’s contest between Texas and the Oval Office differs from the Arkansas and Alabama episodes. In 1957 and 1963, governors defied federal authorities attempting to uphold the law. Today, the roles are reversed: a governor, Texas’s Greg Abbott, finds himself forced to perform what is largely a federal responsibility—border security—because Washington, D.C. categorically refuses to perform its constitutional duty. Ground Zero for Abbott’s effort is Eagle Pass, Texas, where the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety have barred illegal entry by border violators over federal objections.
Count on this: the White House would justify the use of force against Texas by hijacking the moral authority of Eisenhower, Kennedy, and the Warren Supreme Court, who enforced the constitutional rights of black Americans to attend public schools and universities. The White House and its congressional allies already disparage as racist Abbott’s effort to defend Texas from the illegal invasion. The Roberts Supreme Court supplied a pretext for military action against Texas with an order undermining Abbott’s decision to deploy razor wire against illegal entry over a small fraction of Texas’s 1,200 mile border with Mexico in Eagle Pass.
There may be more to come from the Supreme Court as Biden’s anti-Texas lawsuits wind through the federal courts. Up next is Biden’s attempt to upend a new Texas law authorizing Texas courts and prosecutors to punish and expel border violators. But the demonstrated lawlessness of the White House and its Attorney General should leave little doubt that top Biden advisers are now mulling non-judicial strategies: the federalization of the Texas National Guard, and troop deployments to dislodge Texas authorities from Eagle Pass.
When would the Biden administration act to neutralize Abbott? Timing is everything. In 2014, to avoid blowback against the Sochi Winter Olympics, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin delayed his Ukraine invasion until after the games. Likewise, Biden probably would not escalate against Texas before resolution of the current federal budget impasse. Biden’s military action to stamp out Texan self-defense against his catastrophic executive decision to open the border would spell the end of Capitol Hill negotiations on border security, and assistance to Ukraine and Israel, among other programs.
