I saw frozen fog for the first time in my life, driving my campervan across Amarillo, Texas in 2021. The sight of that meteorological phenomenon, I will not soon forget.
Two years later, I encountered the most consistently agreeable people while driving through South Dakota. Other highlights in the Mt. Rushmore State? The pink quartzite everywhere, wow. Mitchell, SD’s prehistoric Indian village was wow squared.
For a bike ride that seems to go on forever with a stunning view around every bend, Idaho’s Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes is a show-stopper.
I’m going to miss those places along with the similarly magnificent Wyoming, Utah, and Montana. But I will not make any discretionary visits to the 25 American states listed below until their governors reject the notion that if they don’t like the rulings of the Supreme Court they can just disregard them. Fellow travelers of all political persuasions, I urge you do to the same.
This reimagining of the constitution and who has the authority to interpret it was triggered by the Supreme Court ruling earlier this month, that Customs and Border Patrol officers had the authority to remove razor wire at the Texas-Mexico border. This enraged Texas Governor Greg Abbott who, as the governor of a state awash in illegal immigrants, invoked the right of Texans to self-defense.
The state denied Federal CBP officers access to remove the razor wire and officials in Texas just keep on laying more along the Rio Grande.
Now with the support of 25 fellow Republican governors writing that “Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation,” a chorus of voices is coming very close to claiming that the Supreme Court isn’t the nation’s supreme arbiter of what the constitutional says.
Or as Oklahoma’s governor, Kevin Stitt told a reporter “We all agree that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.” But then Stitt added, if the Supreme Court gets something wrong, “I think the Constitution supersedes .” Stitt’s no lawyer, he’s an accountant and a businessman. Perhaps that explains his nonsensical statement.
The governors supporting Abbott, focus not on the legal theories but on practical realities. America has a long-ignored, immigration problem that cannot be contained with the word “crisis”. Our immigration policy is broken. It is arbitrary and capricious. It is tragic. It is deadly. It is way past time for the nation to get its act together to address the misery on both sides of the border. But not at the cost of a core American value; the rule of law.
When leaders take the position that Supreme Court decisions are optional we have moved from an immigration problem to an existential one. That’s a line that those who love this country should not cross.
Acadia National Park, Maine
Leaders in Maine, Arizona, Oregon, and Kansas haven’t challenged the authority of the Supreme Court. Why not pay them a visit? Maybe I’ll see you there.
Watson Lake, Prescott, Arizona
States where Republican Governors are supporting Texas Governor Greg Abbott after the Supreme Court ruled federal authorities had the right to remove razor wire from the Texas-Mexico border
Alabama – Kay Ivey, Alaska – Mike Dunleavy, Arkansas – Sarah Sanders, Florida – Ron DeSantis, Georgia – Brian Kemp, Idaho – Brad Little, Indiana – Eric Holcomb, Iowa – Kim Reynolds, Louisana – Jeff Landry, Mississippi – Tate Reeves, Missouri – Mike Parson, Montana – Greg Gianforte, Nebraska – Jim Pillen, Nevada – Joe Lombardo, New Hampshire – Chris Sununu, North Dakota – Doug Burgum, Ohio – Mike DeWine, Oklahoma – Kevin Stitt, South Carolina – Henry McMaster, South Dakota – Kristi Noem, Tennessee – Bill Lee, Utah – Spencer Cox, Virginia – Glenn Youngkin, West Virginia – Jim Justice, Wyoming – Mark Gordon
Author of The New York Times bestseller, The Crash Detectives, I am also a journalist, public speaker and broadcaster specializing in aviation and travel.
