Greg Abbott channels Ross Barnett and other dismal characters
Sometimes the legacy of the Confederate States of America and the segregation system that eventually gained ascendancy there after the war come back to haunt us in surprising ways:
It’s difficult to overstate how dire the situation had become in Eagle Pass, Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott mounted his insurgency against the federal government. Migrants frequently cross over at Eagle Pass, so Border Patrol has a major presence in the area. Federal law grants border agents the right to access all land within 25 miles of the border and requires these agents to inspect and detain unauthorized migrants. Yet Abbott defied these statutes: He ordered the Texas National Guard to erect razor wire at the border, a barrier that ensnared migrants (to the point of near death) and excluded Border Patrol. Federal law enforcement was thus physically unable to perform the duties assigned to it by Congress, or to rescue migrants drowning in the Rio Grande. In response, border agents began cutting through the wire, prompting Texas to sue. The far-right U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit dutifully issued an injunction prohibiting any federal destruction of the wire fencing.1 [my emphasis]
The Supreme Court overruled the renegade 5th Circuit Court on this issue with a 5-4 vote. That it was even a close vote shows how far right politically the current SCOTUS is. And of course the blatant corruption makes it worse. Justices Thomas (sugardaddy billionaire: Harlan Crow, among others) and Scalia (sugardaddy billionaire: Paul Singer, among others) both voted for the Confederate position in this case.
Is Mark Joseph Stern exaggerating there when he calls Abbott’s use of the state National Guard to physically obstruct federal officials in carrying out there officials duties an “insurgency”? Not really, though “insurrection” is probably the more appropriate description.
This is more serious than Alabama Gov. George Wallace in 1963 theatrically “standing in the schoolhouse door” (a university door, actually) and then stepping aside when an officer of the federalized National Guard ordered him to do so.2
That was disgraceful enough on Wallace’s part. But Abbott’s action is more like Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett inciting and facilitating a violent insurrection to prevent James Meredith from being to the segregated University of Mississippi as a Black student:
State officials, including Governor Ross Barnett, attempted to defy the Supreme Court decision, provoking a constitutional crisis between the state of Mississippi and the federal government.
When Meredith arrived at the school’s Oxford, Mississippi, campus under the protection of federal forces, including U.S. marshals, a mob of more than 2,000 students and others formed to block his way.
Two people were killed and many others injured in the ensuing chaos, forcing Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to send federal marshals and later federalized National Guardsmen, in what essentially amounted to a military occupation of some 31,000 federal troops.3
Ross Barnett was a truly disgraceful character.4
So is Greg Abbott.
From the Texas House to former President Donald Trump, Republicans across the country are rallying behind Gov. Greg Abbott’s legal standoff with the federal government at the southern border, intensifying concerns about a constitutional crisis amid an ongoing dispute with the Biden administration.
At issue is concertina wire that the Texas National Guard has been using as a barrier between the Rio Grande River and Shelby Park, a 47-acre area in Eagle Pass. In a 5-4 decision earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden Administration when it vacated a lower court’s ruling that prevented Border Patrol agents from cutting the wire to apprehend people who had crossed the river.
On Wednesday [Jan. 24] — and as the Texas National Guard and state troopers continued to roll out the wire and prevent federal agents from accessing much of the park — Abbott continued to publicly challenge the ruling and “hold the line." He declared that Texas was under an “invasion,” giving the state the constitutional right to defend itself and claimed that President Joe Biden’s practice of paroling migrants into the country amounted to a refusal to enforce current immigration laws.5 [my emphasis]
This is a revival of John C. Calhoun’s nullification doctrine that the slave states of the Confederacy used as the ideological for seceding from the Union in the most serious insurrection the US government has ever faced.6
Calhoun, the evil spirit of American history, can be proud of his new Texas disciple. If secession and treason are not really your thing, Abbott is looking a lot like his 19th century mentor:
This is a Matthew Brady photo of the old boy before he departed the mortal realm.7 When you hear the name Greg Abbott, you should picture this guy:
Stern, Mark Joseph (2024): What’s Going On With Brett Kavanaugh? Slate 01/23/2024. <https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/01/what-brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court.html> (Accessed: 2024-28-01).
Stand at the Schoolhouse Door: The University of Alabama integrates in 1963. AL.com YouTube channel 06/11/2023. (Accessed: 2024-28-01).
James Meredith at Ole Miss. History Channel 06/10/2019. <https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/ole-miss-integration> (Accessed: 2024-28-01).
Pittman, Ashton (2022): Mississippi Repeals State Song Honoring Racist Ex-Governor Ross Barnett. Mississippi Free Press 04/19/2022. <https://www.mississippifreepress.org/23082/mississippi-repeals-state-song-honoring-racist-ex-governor-ross-barnett> (Accessed: 2024-28-01).
Choi, Matthew & Downen, Robert (2024): “Hold the line”: Republicans rally to Abbott’s defense in border standoff with Biden. Texas Tribune 01/25/2024. <https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/25/greg-abbott-border-republicans-joe-biden/> (Accessed: 2024-28-01).
See: Governor Greg Abbott letter of 01/24/2024. < https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/Border_Statement_1.24.2024.pdf>
File:John C Calhoun by Mathew Brady, 1849.jpg. Wikimedia Commons. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_C_Calhoun_by_Mathew_Brady,_1849.jpg> (Accessed: 2024-28-01).
