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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes on Thursday joined an 11-state coalition calling for the federal government to ease off in its control of state National Guard units.
The brief filed by the states at the U.S. Supreme Court argues against increasing federal control over the states' respective National Guard units.
"In assigning military power, the Constitution established a system of federalism to provide security while preserving liberty. Military matters — including raising an army — are mainly entrusted to the national government, but states retain primary control over the militia (National Guard)," the brief reads. "In the last century, this design was eroded."
It goes on to say that limits on national power have "vanished" while state powers were "hobbled."
"Guard members may be called into service and sent abroad as the president sees fit. Local control of the Guard has been curtailed. And the national military now outnumbers state militia — a reversal from the founding era — knocking out a key check on the national military," said the brief.
The brief was filed in response to the Ohio National Guard's challenge in October to a Federal Labor Relations Authority order forcing the Ohio National Guard and other state militias to engage in collective bargaining with unions.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement that since the National Guard is not a federal agency, the Federal Labor Relations Authority doesn't have the power to regulate it.
"I have consistently gone to court to combat federal overreach, and this case is more of the same," Yost said.
In the brief, Reyes joins other attorneys general to detail the "historical trend" eroding state control over National Guard units in favor of greater federal authority, even for no legitimate military purpose.
The Ohio decision "permits the national government to exert day-to-day control over a state guard. It mandates how an adjutant general works with labor unions, bargains and promotes. It allows this intrusion into state functions on matters unconnected to national defense or the battlefield," said the brief.
In addition to Reyes, the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia joined in filing the amicus brief in support of Ohio.
A post on Reyes' official website says he joined the coalition "to protect the Constitution's checks and balances that guarantee both security and liberty."
