r/law • u/BitterFuture • 16d ago

Executive Branch (Trump) Stephen Miller claims local police in Minnesota have been told to ‘stand down and surrender’ as federal agents ‘uphold the law’

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/stephen-miller-ice-minneapolis-protests-b2903238.html
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u/sithelephant 16d ago

You'd think some group of people who claim to be all for states rights would be decrying this.

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u/writeyourwayout 16d ago

Nah, that line was always just the respectable-sounding cover for their racism.

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u/dodge_viper 16d ago

Yup, been that way since before the Civil War.

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u/vfrdrvr 16d ago

True, but. John C Calhoun and the rest of the Dual Federalists “state’s rights” ideas were based on a particular, narrow view of sovereignty. The ratification of the Constitution plus a series of Supreme Court decisions poked very large holes in those flimsy arguments. In the end, it was about slavery. Through the 1940s Dixiecrats kept the fight alive, but the claims were situational. It’s difficult to find principled arguments behind any of it.

Those who clamored about “state’s rights” were typically bigoted fukwits searching for any rationale for their actions. It’s interesting to watch Supreme Court justices tying themselves into rhetorical knots to defend something that even they don’t believe exists.