New Arizona law "trumps" Federal authority

Apparently Arizona is attempting to pass a law that allows a committee of some sort to decide not to abide by federal laws that are unconstitutional.

I'm having a hard time finding more info than the original story, except for the fact that apparently it's been tried before.

Thoughts? I'm pretty sure it won't work (probably will not even pass, considering it's only been proposed at this point), but still, interesting that someone would propose it.

Considering things like this have been tried in the past and ended flat on their faces more stupid bullshit posturing by loons in Arizona.

Even by Arizona standards, this is insane.

Arizona...why do you think anyone's going to take your word for what's "unconstitutional" instead of Washington's?

Oh boy, with any luck they'll secede outright and after we take them back we can totally ignore them just like the last time a state tried that.

Nothing new about this, US states have been trying to pull this kind of stuff since the original thirteen. It would be pretty funny if this were the attempt that succeeded.

edited 3rd Feb '11 7:25:18 PM by Beforet

This is in direct violation a whole rainbow of Constitutional agreements, most notably the division of powers and the supremacy clause.

If this legislation somehow manages to pass, it would get shot down so fast by the Supreme Court that Pearce's head would spin.

edited 3rd Feb '11 7:27:00 PM by Pentadragon

Didn't we go through this back in the 1830s?

Arizona's sad it was too young to play with the big boy states, so they're going to try again.

Nullification: it doesn't work. Supreme Court debunked it, Civil War debunked it, 1830s faceoff between Jackson and South Caroline debunked it.

Federal law trumps state law. Why is that so crazily difficult for some people to comprehend?

Because people in ethnically homogenous, religiously conservative areas are used to their ideas going unchallenged. When their beliefs turn out not to be shared by the rest of the nation, they act like immature cretins and come up with plans like this.

Edit: This came out a little harsh. This only happens some of the time. Sometimes, they just complain.

edited 3rd Feb '11 7:58:26 PM by Ultrayellow

"Federal law trumps state law. Why is that so crazily difficult for some people to comprehend?"

When a significant number of people within a state feel that the decisions of the Federal government run counter to their interest, they usually feel that it is a failure of representative democracy, and try to find a way around it.

tl;dr Arizona doesn't like Federal laws, so they'll give this a shot even though it's certain to fail.

"Because people in ethnically homogenous, religiously conservative areas are used to their ideas going unchallenged. When their beliefs turn out not to be shared by the rest of the nation, they act like immature cretins and comeup with plans like this."

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you would describe yourself as a liberal.

I wish politicians would waste time with stunts and get back to the business of...you know...governing.

Between this and the Organ Donor bullshit, I dont know why anyone would want to live in Arizona.

Yeah, that's fair. Tell me, Wander, do you support this?

Because not every person in the United States has the same political views as you, perhaps?

No, I do not. It won't work. Even if it did have a chance, in the long run it's more important to keep America unified than allow states to follow their own interests all the time.

You ninja'd me.

edited 3rd Feb '11 8:00:59 PM by Wanderhome

I meant calling me a liberal was fair. What are you talking about?

We already have states that ignore Federal Laws openly.

They area all the fucking places that host "Sanctuary Cities".

Either get rid of both issues, or let both issues stay. No more of this shit.

Well, passing laws directly nullifying federal laws is on a slightly higher level than simply being pointedly lax in enforcement, if only due to the confrontational nature of the entire thing.

I should point out that some people proposed this same amendment in the Virginia House of Delegates. I don't know whether it passed, but it stood a pretty good chance of doing so. Fortunately, the Senate is less crazy and it stood no chance of passing that, so we're good over here. The irony of the entire thing is that this year is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. We were doing this exact same thing 150 years ago. Good god, people, if you're going to do the whole 'history repeats itself' thing, at least be a little less blatant about it.

I would have guessed that they'd done it intentionally to coincide. Old Dixie has been rearing its head all over the South recently.

well, the idiots from the over religious south have tried again to exercise states rights. I will say that the previous comment about ethnically and socially similar people is probably correct. The religious south seems to think just because the Tea Party is here, they can be imbeciles.

edited 3rd Feb '11 10:44:56 PM by NickTheSwing

Why do 'Constitutionalists' bother with this facade that they actually care about the constitution? It's disgraceful.

edited 4th Feb '11 12:15:13 AM by CommandoDude

I think they believe the Constitution consists solely of the Second and Tenth Amendments, damn the rest.

I'd say it's more like they are leveraging the constitution to support whatever views they already held, using/twisting what supports their views and ignoring the rest.

I was pretty sure this would never pass when I read about it, and I'm still pretty sure about that. Still, how stupid are these people?

Edit: Wait, duh, it's gotta be some sort of political gambit for support. Or maybe they are that stupid.

edited 4th Feb '11 11:05:22 AM by deathjavu