Legal News

States? Rights Supporters Making Rumbles out West

By Ashby Jones

Americans have been living with the U.S. Constitution for some 220 years, and we’re still wrestling with how, exactly, to carry out one of the great document’s fundamental ideas — that Congress shall have certain law-making authorities and the states shall retain others.

The latest example of Federalism’s eternal push-and-pull is encapsulated in a vivid LA Times article today. The LAT reports that an increasing number of state lawmakers and Washington skeptics are passing legislation aimed at rolling back the reach of Congress and President Obama.

The story, reported from Montana, focuses largely on a bill passed by that state’s legislators that flagrantly ignores federal firearm restrictions. Supporters of the bill want the Supreme Court to shoot down all types of gun controls and, ultimately, writes the Times, “curtail Washington’s ability to set policy on a wide range of issues, including education, civil rights, law enforcement and land use.”

“It’s about states’ rights,” said state Rep. Joel Boniek, a Republican from Livingston, who introduced the bill. “Guns are just the vehicle.”

The Montana Firearms Freedom Act seeks to exempt from federal regulation any firearm, gun component or ammunition made and kept within the state’s borders. The legislation, signed by Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer, becomes law Oct. 1.

Just yesterday, the NYT highlighted these very issues in Tennessee, where Republican lawmakers recently signed into law a number of pro-gun bills. By signing the bills into law, the state’s congress exempted Tennessee from federal legislation.

The LA Times story also notes that a provocative move is afoot in Utah, where Republican legislator Carl Wimmer is drafting a bill that would forbid local authorities to help enforce federal statutes inside Utah.

Proponents of the “states’ rights” movement rely, as their predecessors have, on the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which limits the powers of Congress.

Some are articulating their missions with highly charged rhetoric. Boniek at one point equated Obama with Hitler, Mao and Stalin, saying each loved his country in his fashion, with disasterous consequences. “He’s ruining the country I love,” Boniek said of Obama. “He doesn’t know what freedom is.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 16, 2009 (boomark / email).