A clash of federal and state law often leaves the former as victor over the latter as seen in the nation’s first brutal test of what those lines were from 1861 to 1865. Via executive order, Governor Greg Abbott now bans any mandated COVID-19 vaccination by any entity in Texas. The Republican Governor directly counters the presidential executive branch orders setting up what will more than likely become a series of legal conflicts across Texas.

The move by Abbott isn’t trivial when considering the size and influence of Texas. It is second in the nation as the most populated state with 30 million people and has the nation’s second-largest economy at nearly a $2 trillion gross domestic product (GDP). Many companies have been moving their corporate headquarters from California to Texas. Most recently Texas has become home to 49 Fortune 500 headquarters—now third behind California and New York.

According to the Governor’s Office, the new executive order bans any “entity in Texas” from compelling the mandate of any COVID-19 vaccine on a person who may be an employee or consumer “…who objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a ...