Why Hasn’t the GOP Governor Weighed in – Aside From a Tweet?
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, when he was the state’s Attorney General, boasted to a Tea Party group a few years ago, “I go into the office, I sue the federal government and I go home.” So, as the religious right’s collective head is exploding today over President Barack Obama‘s directive that transgender students must be allowed to use the restrooms that correspond with their gender identity, what’s Gov. Abbott said?
Almost nothing, except this:
His Lt. Governor has called the administration’s new directive “the biggest issue facing families and schools in America since prayer was taken out of public schools,” and directed schools to ignore it.
In fact, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is so furious he said, “We will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States.”
But what’s Gov. Abbott doing?
Driving around in this:
To do this:
Apparently the biggest issue facing families and schools in America since prayer was taken out of public schools will have to wait a little longer.
But in all seriousness, Abbott will sue the Obama administration, guaranteed.
On Thursday, before the Obama administration policy was announced, Abbott told fellow Republicans, “I am working with the governor of North Carolina, and we are going to fight back†against the DOJ’s HB2 lawsuit.Â
Already, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson have said their states will ignore the Obama directive, setting up a fight that could go all the way to the Supreme Court. Those three states belong to the 4th, 5th, and 8th Circuit Courts of Appeals, and just like with marriage all they need is one to rule against President Obama’s administration and Supreme Court, here we come.
Of course, the administration’s lawsuit against North Carolina is solid, so there’s a good chance these Southern Republicans will be left touring their states selling more books.
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