Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley stumbled over the question of whether Texas had the right to secede from the United States, insisting it was “for Texas to decide.”
During an interview on the podcast “The Breakfast Club,” Charlamagne the God asked 2024 presidential candidates, “If Texas tries to secede from the Union over border issues, are you willing to use force?” he asked. Charlamagne referenced a 2010 interview with Haley in which she said the U.S. Constitution allows states to secede.
“I believe in states’ rights. I believe everything should be left to the people as much as possible,” Haley said, adding that Gov. Greg Abbott’s razor-sharp plan to protect states amid the growing border crisis He added that he supports wire fencing measures.
When asked about the secession issue, Haley said, “If Texas decides it wants to do that, then we can do it. If the entire state says we don’t want to be part of the United States anymore. It’s their decision.” make. “
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Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley speaks after the results of the New Hampshire primary are released at a watch party in Concord, New Hampshire on January 23, 2024. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)
“I don’t think the government needs to tell people how to live, what to do and what to do. I think we need to keep our freedoms alive,” Haley added.
“As you know, each state is going to make a decision, but let’s talk about what the reality is. Texas…is not going to secede. So that’s not what they’re going to do,” Haley said. said.
Texas is currently at odds with the Biden administration over the state’s razor wire fencing along Eagle Pass, which has seen record migrant crossings in recent months. The Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could temporarily reduce the fence and allow Texas to continue building the fence while the case continues in lower courts.
After last week’s controversial 5-4 decision, rumors abounded about how tensions between the Lone Star State and the federal government could escalate.
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Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas. (Tamil Khalifa/Getty Images)
Governor Abbott said he would invoke Article 1, Section 10, which he said was “triggered” by Biden’s border inaction. That constitutional provision states: “No State shall, without the consent of Congress, impose tonnage duties in peacetime, store troops or warships, or enter into any treaty or agreement with any other State or foreign power. “You must not do this,” it says. You cannot go to war unless you are actually invaded or there is imminent danger that you cannot afford to delay. ”
However, the Constitution does not allow any state, even Texas, to secede from the Union.
The Texas Tribune wrote, “Even before Texas formally rejoined the state, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that secession was never legal and that Texas remained a state even during the rebellion.” Ta.
When Texas was readmitted to the Union in 1845, its annexation resolution provided for the future division of Texas into “additional to the said State of Texas, and new states of convenient size, not exceeding four in number.” It was said that they could choose.
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U.S. Border Patrol agents watch over 2,000 migrants at a field processing center in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)
However, the resolution only states that Texas could be split into five new states. There is nothing written there about separating from the United States. Only Congress has the power to admit new states into the Union, the last time that happened in 1959 with the admission of Alaska and Hawaii, the Tribune points out.
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The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia put an end to the issue in 2006 when a screenwriter asked him if there was a legal basis for his departure.
“The answer is clear,” Scalia wrote. “If the Civil War solved a constitutional problem, it was that there was no right to secede. (Hence, the Pledge of Allegiance says “One Nation, Indivisible.”)
