23 Times US Governors Challenged Decisions Made by the Federal Government

During the War of 1812, Massachusetts Governor Caleb Strong opposed the conflict and refused orders from the War Department to place state militia units under federal military officers. Strong asserted that the United States Constitution only permitted federal militia calls during actual invasion.

Elected South Carolina governor in 1832, Robert Y. Hayne stood at the center of the Nullification Crisis. Hayne signed the state ordinance declaring federal protective tariffs unconstitutional and prepared state troops for conflict before a compromise tariff defused the standoff.

Even within the Confederacy, Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown fiercely defended state rights against the Richmond government. Brown resisted central military conscription laws, declared exemptions for state officers, and hoarded weapons to protect local Georgia borders.

During the 1894 Pullman railroad strike, Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld sent furious telegraphs to President Grover Cleveland. Altgeld argued that the state had situation control and that deploying federal soldiers without gubernatorial consent violated constitutional sovereignty.

Four-term Maryland Governor Albert Ritchie was the nation's leading champion of state autonomy against federal Prohibition. Ritchie declared that policing private habits was a state prerogative, refusing to spend state tax revenue or direct state police to enforce federal alcohol bans.

Georgia Governor Eugene Talmadge bitterly opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs. Calling federal relief unconstitutional, Talmadge clashed with federal relief administrators until Washington took direct control of Georgia federal relief distribution in 1934.

In September 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus ordered the state National Guard to block nine African American students from entering Little Rock Central High School. President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by federalizing the guard and deploying the 101st Airborne to enforce the court order.

Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett made national headlines in 1962 by invoking interposition to block James Meredith from registering at Ole Miss. Barnett personally turned Meredith away until Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy dispatched federal marshals and federal troops to secure admission.

On June 11, 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in the doorway of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama to block two Black students. President John F. Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard, forcing Wallace to step aside when General Henry Graham ordered him to yield.

Following the 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, New Hampshire Governor Meldrim Thomson Jr. resisted federal mandates capping state highway speed limits at 55 mph. Thomson threatened open defiance against Washington, fighting federal threats to revoke federal road funding.

During the late 1970s and 1980s, Colorado Governor Richard Lamm championed Western state authority over federal public lands. Lamm protested federal resource leasing and environmental mandates, warning Washington that Western states refused to be treated as economic colonies.

When Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, South Dakota Governor Bill Janklow spearheaded a constitutional fight against federal coercion. The resulting Supreme Court battle, South Dakota v. Dole, established crucial limits on federal spending power conditions.

California Governor Pete Wilson championed Proposition 187 in 1994, seeking to deny non-emergency healthcare and public education to undocumented immigrants. Wilson defended the measure against federal constitutional challenges, arguing that federal border enforcement failures forced state action.

During the 1995 federal government shutdown, Arizona Governor Fife Symington marched state National Guard and park rangers to the closed Grand Canyon gates. Determined to keep tourism alive, Symington negotiated state funding to reopen park operations despite federal closures.

In 2002, California Governor Gray Davis signed AB 1493, the nation's first law regulating greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions from passenger cars. The move triggered a decade-long federal battle over California's Clean Air Act waiver, eventually forcing nationwide vehicle efficiency improvements.

Serving fourteen years as Texas governor, Rick Perry repeatedly sued federal agencies. Perry challenged EPA carbon regulations, contested cross-state air pollution rules, and was among the first governors to reject federal Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

In 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1070, making immigration status checks mandatory during lawful police stops. The Obama administration sued, culminating in the 2012 Supreme Court ruling Arizona v. United States, which affirmed federal supremacy over immigration.

In 2017, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 54, known as the California Values Act. The statute restricted state and local law enforcement from using public funds to assist federal immigration enforcement, prompting the federal Department of Justice to file a major lawsuit.

Days after the White House issued Executive Order 13769 in January 2017, Washington Governor Jay Inslee directed the state attorney general to file suit. Washington became the first state to challenge the policy, winning a nationwide temporary restraining order from a federal judge.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took aggressive legal and legislative action in 2021 against federal COVID-19 rules. DeSantis signed legislation barring businesses and schools from requiring proof of vaccination and sued the federal government over contractor and healthcare worker mandates.

Taking office in 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom sued the federal administration over its attempt to revoke California's Clean Air Act waiver. Newsom also recalled hundreds of California National Guard troops from the Mexico border, redirecting them to state wildfire prevention duties.

In 2024, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to seize Shelby Park in Eagle Pass and install razor wire along the Rio Grande. Invoking the state constitutional right of self-defense, Abbott defied federal orders to grant Border Patrol agents unfettered river access.

New York's first governor, George Clinton, led the anti-federalist movement in the 1780s. Clinton resisted federal attempts to seize New York harbor customs duties and fought against unamended ratification of the United States Constitution, helping ensure the adoption of the Bill of Rights.