This is the question I attempted to answer. Notice the context of the question, which as I understood it, was of who had authority over the state guards, if conflicting orders were given. I attempted, perhaps poorly, to explain that there was a definite chain of command and all military personal are trained to know whose orders to follow in such a situation: It isn't always the highest rank.
Looking over my post, I can see that, although I did phrase my answer in terms of a conflict of orders, I didn't really emphasize that it applied only to a conflict; and not necessarily to following lawful orders of superior rank outside the chain of command.
Thank you for the info. In addition to POTUS, there are several federal echelons in their chain of command when they're federalized.
This is true. What I said before is also true. I attempted to give a quick answer concerning a conflict of orders from different chains of command. Telling HH this ^^ without explaining how chain of command works, could be confusing and misleading. Most civilians don't know that an officer telling a lower rank outside his chain of command to disregard orders within that lower rank's chain of command is an unlawful order. It's not intuitive for a civilian like it is for a soldier (or, in my case, a vet).
We had specific drills for this in Basic Training. Our barracks always had one of us on guard at the door, with instructions (from our sergeant) to let only members of our flight (Air Force equivalent of platoon) in and out. Sometimes a lieutenant or captain from a different flight would show up at 3-4am, when the sergeant wasn't there, and order the airman to let him in. This was usually an officer within our squadron (equivalent to army company) but commanding a different flight and therefore not in our flight's chain of command. The officer could be quite insistent, even threatening, but if the quaking airman let him in, he (the airman) would be in deep doo-doo.
That same captain could order us to, say, pick dandelions out of a lawn, as long as he wasn't taking us off our assigned posts (which would be a conflict of orders, and therefore not a lawful order). If he gave us a lawful order without going through our chain of command, we did what we were told, and later reported it up the chain of command. I never saw a conflict of orders other than those training exercises. Officers and non-coms generally stay within their chain of command.
Thank you for the extra information for our civilian readers; but again, in the context of the original question it can be misleading to those who haven't been trained in following their chain of command.
Been sayin' that for years here. 
Sooo glad you came here, are one of Us and adding to the Mosaic. 
The "Picture, Colors, Hues and Design" is FAR from finished and would never be complete without you casting down and placing your Tiles. 
