What do you know about "strict construction?" Anything at all? I tell you what, sport - provide a specific citation from the US Constitution that prohibits State secession.
Go for it...
Strict construction, taking what the Constitution actually says over what we wish it would say, is often awkward, but is the safest guarantee of our liberty under the federal system.
I agree - and the Constitution nowhere "actually says" that State secession is prohibited.
The Constitution flatly and clearly says that states may not exercise sovereign powers.
"The Constitution flatly and clearly says that states may not exercise sovereign powers" - so long as they remain members of the union. Once a State retires from the union, that prohibition is obviously no longer applicable.
You may cite extra-Constitutional authorities and opinions for what the Constitution plainly says, but if you do so I do not think you should pretend to be a strict constructionist.
Hey, sport, I tell you what: I will gladly limit myself to the specific written terms of the US Constitution of 1860 - which no where prohibits State secession.
Have at it...
The Constitution does not contain the word secession on way or the other. But the Constitution says that the states cannot enter into treaties, confederations or engage in war apart from the United States. Without the powers prohibited in Article 1, Section 10, secession would be no more than a bunch of power-grabbing politicians making useless noise. And in the end, the secessions produced nothing more lasting than hot air and a trail of misery.
"The Constitution flatly and clearly says that states may not exercise sovereign powers" - so long as they remain members of the union. Once a State retires from the union, that prohibition is obviously no longer applicable.
You're adding words to the Constitution again. There's nothing in the Constitution that limits its authority as the supreme law of the land to the a period of time that states remain in the Union. What I'm getting at with my awkward logic and prose, Lincoln got at clearly and more succinctly when he said no government contained provision for its own dissolution.
I will gladly limit myself to the specific written terms of the US Constitution of 1860 - which no where prohibits State secession.
Where is the provision for state secession in the Constitution in 1860? I see powers prohibited to the states in Article 1, Section 10. I see a 10th Amendment yielding the powers that have not been prohibited to the states. But Article 1, Section 10 has prohibited actions of sovereignty to the states so the 10th Amendment does not negate Article 1, Section 10. Where then in the Constitution is there a negation of the restriction contained in Article 1 Section 10?