The GOP candidate had said last week that states could secede if they felt the need to do so.
Nikki Haley, fresh off her Civil War history refresher on this week’s Saturday Night Live, appeared to remember what the Constitution allowed when it comes to state secession: nothing.
Haley again walked back her comments saying states could choose if they wanted to secede from the U.S., telling CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that she didn’t believe the Constitution afforded them that right. It came days after she told radio host Charlamagne tha God that states like Texas could “make the decisions that their people want to make.”
“According to the Constitution, they can’t,” Haley told CNN. “What I think they have the right to do is have the power to protect themselves and do all that. Texas has talked about that for a long time. The Constitution doesn’t allow for that.”
The GOP presidential candidate then tried to pivot to why Texas would consider such an option, citing Gov. Greg Abbott’s frustration with the Biden administration’s handling of the Southern border and the state’s desire to protect itself.
Jamelle Bouie recently wrote an opinion piece for the NYTimes about how and why Nikki Haley is SO incredibly wrong about this, and in it he delves into the full history of the question, including that of pissbaby Greg Abbott’s “compact theory” as well as McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) where Justice John Marshall tore “compact theory” to pieces, and how that worked out in practice through the Civil War.
It is literally the best article I’ve read yet, anywhere in 2024, that explains the current lies that secessionists are truly relying upon and just how contradictory to the Constitution they really are.
For everyone here that’s as interested as I am in the historical realities behind the current dishonest neofascist claims, here’s a gift link. It’s a bit of a long read, but well worth the time:
Gift link - No, Nikki Haley, the Constitution Does Not Say That - NYTimes
I like that the article lays out the development of federalism pre-civil war. I think the most concise description of their argument I’ve heard is that it’s just the “Air Bud argument”.
“There’s no
rulesection of the constitution that says adogstate can’tplay basketballsecede.”I never thought about it that way, but you’re absolutely right.
Funny, but without the Second Continental Congress and ultimately the Constitution itself, we wouldn’t even have states. We’d still be “these united colonies” as named in the Declaration of Independence.
You want proof no state can secede?
We had a rapey embarrassment running the show like a drunk circus marshall and California didn’t peace out.
The moment Texas takes its ball and goes home, California becomes its own independent country and Oregon starts whispering to Washington about the pretty girl next door.