States' Rights takes the Stage

The 10th Amendment to the Constitution reads:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

A number of state legislatures around the country with new and very conservative Republican majorities have been proposing legislation aimed squarely at what they see as an over-reaching, tyrannical federal government.  According to Kirk Johnson in today's New York Times legislators across the country are invoking “states rights” as their reason for proposed legislation to exempt themselves from federal laws and regulations they find objectionable.   Ranging from the absurd to the ridiculous the proposed legislation includes a bill in Georgia requiring banks to accept payment in gold or silver only to a bill in Arizona to exempt all products produced and consumed in their state from federal interstate commerce laws. 

Many of us will remember that the last time we saw such emphasis on "states' rights" was during the Civil Rights era when it was invoked in defense of segregationist policies and Jim Crow laws.  Although this invocation is marginally less offensive it still speaks to some pretty ugly political theater taking the stage around the country.

It remains to be seen how many of these laws will be enacted but even if passed they are likely to be in conflict with the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.  As the reporter points out, decades of legal precedent make clear that federal law almost always overrides state law.  At best these attempts seem designed to make a political statement and perhaps divert attention from what will be very painful budget cuts in state and local governments.  The "jobs, jobs, jobs" promises that swept many of these people into office in the mid-term elections are still nowhere to be found.