Yesterday, in the latest installment of the ongoing beef between Austin and Washington over border enforcement, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas issued a letter claiming that “the federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States.”

The letter lays out, clearly and without hyperbole, the argument for Texas’s authority to defend its own border in the absence of federal protection. As commentators have noted, it dares President Biden to send in the troops to open the border in a literal sense.

A growing gaggle of governors, senators, and congressmen have voiced support for Abbott’s stand, which cracks open some constitutional questions that have lain dormant since, roughly, the middle of the 19th century, when there was a bit of unpleasantness on related subjects. It’s a big deal.

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, like his fellow Floridian, Sen. Marco Rubio, has discovered the joys of homemade direct-to-camera videos after suspending his presidential campaign. In a video this morning, he observed that individual states’ rights to repel invasion were countenanced by the Founders, and that there is a whiff of hypocrisy in the criticism from liberal jurisdictions that chose to ignore federal law to suit their own preferences.

Of course, the most important story of the day earned no front-page coverage from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, or the Washington Post. Not everyone can keep an eye on the ball.