Amendment Would Enable States to Repeal Federal Law (health care reform)

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

The same people driving the lawsuits that seek to dismantle the Obama administration’s health care overhaul have set their sights on an even bigger target: a constitutional amendment that would allow a vote of the states to overturn any act of Congress.

Under the proposed “repeal amendment,” any federal law or regulation could be repealed if the legislatures of two-thirds of the states voted to do so.

The idea has been propelled by the wave of Republican victories in the midterm elections. First promoted by Virginia lawmakers and Tea Party groups, it has the support of legislative leaders in 12 states. It also won the backing of the incoming House majority leader, Representative Eric Cantor, when it was introduced this month in Congress.

Like any constitutional amendment, it faces enormous hurdles: it must be approved by both chambers of Congress — requiring them to agree, in this case, to check their own power — and then by three-quarters of, or 38, state legislatures.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/us/politics/20states.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Yep feeling more and more like 1859

a good year, if you did not mind what happened next.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. indeed and they also recently said that "only property owners should be allowed to vote and

it wasn't Hamilton Jefferson debate

[PSPS]

2. It will never happen, of course. But they'll get some 'bagger mileage out of it for a while.

[Proletariatprincess]

3. If laws could be overturned by popular vote it might work....

but that would require trust in the electoral system. I have none. Diebold stole that away with the elections.

[theoldman]

4. The same thing happened when Johnson signed the Civil Rights bill.

People in the Southern states bitched and moaned about the Federal government violating state's rights. These people forget that they are not the majority.

[bongbong]

5. I'm shocked, I tell you. SHOCKED!

The whole "What about the deficit????" and the "Where are the jobs???" concern-lies evaporated even before the new set of reactionaries have been seated.

[nyy1998]

6. Yeah, good luck getting that through Congress

[pasto76]

7. this is why they hate history; we've already fought this war to the tune of 618,000 dead!

fuckola.

[RoccoR5955]

8. It'll never happen

Do they realize how long it takes to get a constitutional amendment ratified? They tried to get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified twice and failed. I see the same for this POS.

[alp227]

19. Also the Marriage Protection Amendment

formerly the Federal Marriage Amendment, which tried to define marriage in the US Constitution as strictly between a man and a woman. That so far hasn't really gotten past Congress.

[Odin2005]

9. These people are getting crazier and crazier.

IMO it's feeling like just before Bloody Kansas. We will see bloodshed.

[madrchsod]

10. never ever going to happen...

just a cheap carny side show for the rubes...

[Roci]

11. Hasn't got

a snowball's chance in a hot BBQ grill. Stop worrying about stuff like this, and worry more about what some of the Really "Choice" Members of the Party of NO have in mind when they take over the House. You know, like Congressional investigations of Muslims, and ACORN, you know, your tax dollars at work, that sort of thing...

[SoapBox]

12. We are the UNITED States of America...NOT 50 little dictatorships.

We are one country.

I'm sick and tired of these crazies trying to break up the country.

IF...places like Texas decide that they want to be alone...fine...and
then we put up a wall...all around the state. Border crossers will be
shot on site...and no running over the border to other states to
get free healthcare and "stuff".

[ProudDad]

14. Why bother. It's going to happen anyway as the oil runs out

the resources are depleted...

and Catastrophic Global Climate Destabilization renders the Earth only able to support about 1/2 billion humans...

thanks to Vampire Capitalism and its handmaidens in the two-right-wings of the Corporate War Party...

[JDPriestly]

15. California would like to overturn a lot of the lax environmental laws

that the rest of the country imposes.

I can just see how Alabama would react if Californians started overturning laws that the southern states vote in.

[Democat]

16. This is an attempted power grab by small unpopulated states.

The Republicans would like for states instead of people to have votes because the majority of people don't agree with Republicans, but the Republicans are a majority in many small states with very few people.

[smuglysmiling]

17. It should be called what it is...

the Teabagger nullification amendment...

[Nikki4CommonCause]

18. Would repeal add anything to our country?

This seems like a very divisive act during a time when we should focus significantly on coming together. The states already have a repeal method, it's call the United States Congress and it belongs to the citizens themselves. This feels like another way to insert manipulation at a level where ideology can trump the wishes of the people. Instead of pulling apart, why not focus on an amendment to reform the filibuster, which is the single best way to make sure that Congress can get its job done? (FYI, more on filibuster here: http://bit.ly/dOxkFu).

We may disagree on whether to go right or left, but we darn well better agree that we cannot go backward!

[Ter]

20. We already have it

It's called the 10th Amendment, and can be interpreted by the SC to mean that besides what's in the Constitution (freedom of speech, right to bear arms, right to vote for women, etc.), all federal laws that tell states what to do are illegal.