The Constitution of the United States is the overriding law of the land. Duly nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, the justices of the Supreme Court decide what the Constitution says and means. The justices have the final say.
It is the duty of every person resident in the country to obey the law. Without law, there is no order. There is anarchy. In that regard, both major political parties claim to be law-abiding. Unfortunately, on too many important matters, both parties trample on the Constitution and the rule of law. They are hypocritical authoritarian populists with little regard for the Constitution.
Recently, Texas passed a law giving authority to state officials to police the international border where Texas meets Mexico. The people of Texas want to stop illegal migration across the border in the interest of domestic security. Arguably, the Texas statute is consistent with the plain language of the U.S. Constitution. Article IV, Section 4, of the Constitution promises that the federal government “shall protect each [State] against invasion,” and Article I, Section 10, Clause 3, recognizes that the states have a “sovereign interest in protecting their borders,” as precedent from the Supreme Court’s 2012 Arizona v. United States indicates.
The Biden administration challenged the Texas illegal immigration law. Administration officials say the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over matters of immigration. In more politically tranquil times, the federal courts would probably rule in favor of the Biden administration. Immigration, legal and illegal, are matters reserved to the federal government. But the Biden administration seemingly is not enforcing illegal immigration laws. Up to 10,000 illegal immigrants enter the U.S. each day. They enter and they are released on their own recognizance. They “invade” and they disappear. Do states have the right to protect their citizens when the federal government fails in its mandated duty?
Regardless, Democrats howled about the Texas law. They shrieked that the law was unconstitutional and racist. But hypocritically, on climate change, which also is clearly a matter exclusively in the purview of the federal government and which the federal government is actively addressing, when individual states interfere and attempt to legislate on climate change, Democrats cheer. On climate change, Democrats don’t care about the Constitution or federal supremacy and preemption, they just want action.
Because they claim that the federal government is not sufficiently restrictive with regard to greenhouse gas emissions by the oil and natural gas industries, representatives of Vermont are preparing to impose financial penalties on the domestic oil and gas industries for their actions regarding climate change. Vermont is taking the law into its own hands when the Biden administration, through federal regulations and national legislation, has demonstrated that climate change is solely a federal matter.
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Climate change is both a national and an international problem. Weather and climate change occur globally. Climate change is not confined to a state or jurisdiction. To assert local authority is ludicrous. But in pursuit of their “perfect” world, progressives are happy to play the fool.
Still, the Constitution is the law of the land. And the Supreme Court has the final and only word on the law. Either we all obey the law, or we will destroy national cohesion and sink into a de facto civil war. It is our choice.
James Rogan is a former U.S. foreign service officer who later worked in finance and law for 30 years. He writes a daily note.