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John C. Calhoun (National Portrait Gallery)

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Governor Glenn Youngkin has signed on to a constitutional position that Virginia and other Southern states used to justify secession from the United States over 170 years ago.

Here, in a nutshell, are the events that led to this situation:

• Greg Abbott ordered razor wire placed in the Rio Grande River to deter immigrants from crossing;
• U.S. Border Patrol agents tried to remove the wire but were prevented from doing so by the Texas State Patrol and the Texas National Guard;
• The United States sued;
• A lower court ordered the Border Patrol not to attempt to remove the razor wire;
• In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the lower court order. There were no written opinions accompanying the decision;
• Despite the Supreme Court decision, Gov. Abbot still refuses to allow the Border Patrol access to certain crossing points, thereby denying that federal authority supersedes the state;
• Almost all the Republican governors issued a statement saying that because the federal government “has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states,” Texas has the right to exert control over the international border in order to defend itself;
• Governor Glenn Youngkin was one of the signatories.

Shades of John C. Calhoun! This compact theory and nullification were put to rest at Appomattox in 1865.

If, as Gov. Youngkin believes, a governor can defy the Supreme Court regarding immigration, what is to stop a future Democratic Virginia governor and legislature from ignoring Supreme Court rulings and enacting strict gun control measures on the grounds that the national government has broken its compact to ensure public safety?

For more analysis and commentary on this development see here and here. For a more measured analysis, see here.