The 10th Amendment Hypocrisy of Greg Abbott

Donald Trump's first couple weeks of his presidency have been filled with controversy and legal defeats, as he has issued edict after edict while congressional Republicans battled over his nominations.  While everyone had fought over his proclamations, local and state governments have decided to act, some for and some against the president's actions.  One glaring hypocrisy comes from the heart of Texas - Governor Greg Abbott.

A couple of years ago when President Obama was in office, Abbott was all for states' rights and fighting Federal overreach, even going as far as to propose a new Constitutional Convention over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, among other things.

“Departures from the Constitution are not the aberration. Now they have become the norm,” said Abbott, speaking at an event by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank in Austin. “The irony is the threat to our republic doesn’t come just from foreign enemies, it comes in part from our very own leader.” 

His proposed amendments — which include allowing a two-thirds vote of the states to repeal any federal law and preventing Congress from regulating activity that takes place all within the borders of one state, such as marriage and gun ownership — would “put teeth in the 10th Amendment” and guarantee states’ rights, he said.

Now that Republicans are in charge of Congress and the executive branch, and are poised to take control of the Supreme Court after refusing to perform their constitutional duty of advising and consenting President Obama's nominee, Abbott is singing a different tune.  Abbott is now threatening to jail his political opponents who do not respect the federal government and their demands of local municipalities.

"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is vowing to pursue legislation to 'remove from office' any official who... defy federal law." wrote Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly.

While this story is still developing, it is troubling to see that conservative governors and officials are now feeling emboldened to publicly state their desire to take out political opposition and install friendlier and compliant administrators.