The state of right vs. land of law
Jun 28, 2012, 11:46 PM
State’s rights have been on the front pages and the lead stories for the last few months.
The foundation of the controversial SB 1070 law goes to the the fundamental questions as to whether there is something sacrosanct and untouchable about how individual states interpret and conduct their laws.
When does federal law trump state law?
The number of cases have been infinite but before freedom-loving, independent Americans make too broad a case for the federal government staying out of the sovereign business of individual states, go to your computer and find the pictures of Alabama Gov. George Wallace and Tennessee Gov. Orval Faubus standing in the doorways of their respective schools clocking the entrance of black children.
They and many others contended segregation was a states’ rights issue. Many of those states declared mixed-race marriages to be illegal — white and black, white and Asian, white and anything but white.
And not long before all too many states said they had the right to drive away their indigenous people: Native Americans.
Abortion, gay rights and literary censorship are often ruled upon by states, who I contend must do so very, very carefully.
I’m Pat McMahon.
