Oklahoma Governor Argues States Can Just Ignore the Supreme Court if It ‘Gets Something Wrong’
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt denied on Friday the firmly established principle that the U.S. Supreme Court is the final arbiter of the nation’s laws.
The court ruled this week that federal agents may remove razor wire installed at the southern border by Texas officials. Gov. Greg Abbott has ignored the decision and is blocking agents from accessing the area. On Thursday, 25 Republican governors – including Stitt – released a letter backing Abbott’s defiance of the court. They argue that the Constitution allows states to defend themselves in the event of an “invasion,” which they say is happening with migrants coming across the border.
Appearing on Friday’s edition of The Lead, Stitt was asked by Jake Tapper about the letter.
“What Governor Abbott is doing and what you and the other governors who have written this letter are supporting is defying the U.S. Supreme Court,” Tapper stated. “And I wonder if you have any concerns that this opens the door for, let’s say Democratic governors to defy U.S. Supreme Court decisions with which they disagree – let’s say on gun rights because they think it’s in the interest of public safety even if the Supreme Court says what they want to do is unconstitutional.”
Stitt responded by rehashing the Antebellum era argument that states reserve the right to ignore federal laws and court decisions:
Well, we all agree that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. And if the Supreme Court gets something wrong – for example, if they try to ban and say that we didn’t have a Second Amendment right to bear arms – I think the Constitution supersedes somebody in Washington, D.C. telling us, you know?
And so I think Governor Abbott did a really good job of laying out, and declared an invasion based on Article 1 of the Constitution. The states have a right to defend themselves. The states created the federal government. The federal government did not create the states.
Tapper responded by noting, “The bottom line is when it comes to interpretation of the U.S. Constitution it is the U.S. Supreme Court that gets to make that final decision.” The host then moved on.
Friday was a rough day for Republican governors’ knowledge of history and the law. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem – who also signed the aforementioned letter – appeared on Fox News and falsely claimed that Texas helped enact one of the nation’s founding documents, but Texas did not become a state until 1845. Like Stitt, she also denied the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision is the ultimate arbiter of the law.
Watch above via CNN.
