This week, Republican governors across the country escalated their conflict with the Biden administration over the southern border by invoking the same legal theory that slave states wielded to justify secession before the Civil War.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, joined by 25 other GOP governors, now argues that the Biden administration has violated the federal government’s “compact” with the states—an abdication that justifies state usurpation of federal authority at the border.

This language embraces the Confederacy’s conception of the Constitution as a mere compact that states may exit when they feel it has been broken. It’s dangerous rhetoric that transcends partisan grandstanding. And as before, it’s being used to legitimize both nullification and dehumanization.

  • Machinist3359
    link
    fedilink
    245 months ago

    I don’t know, it’s really a lose lose either way. Biden is either too soft and the GOP calls it a win and does something worse, or he is too tough and he’s called a dictator. I’d rather he take decisive action and put the fear of God in them than let it escalate and get even more immigrants killed. Honestly after the shipping migrants to liberal states stunt he should have thrown the book and/or CIA at 'em.

    • @EtherWhack
      link
      45 months ago

      I wouldn’t throw out that it also may be an attempt to sway the swing states off the teeter and vote in their favor by giving him that no-win. May also be a way to distract the left side while trying to radicalize the right into another insurrection.