I tend to agree that Scalia’s comment about the Civil War deciding it was wrong. I think his opinion that states do not have a Constitutional right to secede is correct though.
The Confederate States had no Constitutional right to secede. If they had won the war it wouldn’t have mattered, but it would have been a successful revolution as opposed to a vindication of their “constitutional right” to secede.
If it gets to the point where a state or states want to secede, I would presume there would be referendums in those states. If they passed, I would then imagine it would be up to the U.S. Congress to pass legislation allowing those states to secede, which the POTUS would then have to sign.
If such legislation was not passed, I would think the seceding states would then have to choose between remaining in the United States, or going to war to win independence. Of course, the mere threat of going to war might convince Congress to consent to the secession.
Alternatively the states might declare themselves free, refuse to abide by the laws of the United States, prevent their citizens from paying Federal taxes, take control of their borders, etc., and then put the onus on the Federal Government to either use force, or consent to the secession.
I hope it never comes to that.
“Alternatively the states might declare themselves free, refuse to abide by the laws of the United States, prevent their citizens from paying Federal taxes, take control of their borders, etc., and then put the onus on the Federal Government to either use force, or consent to the secession.
I hope it never comes to that.”
RE: IT ALREADY HAS COME TO THAT. That is the only way this contest can be decided. The federal government is no longer federal... It has violated the Constitution and crowned itself a national supreme power. It is no better than any other dictatorship... In fact, it is worse because it hides behind the Constitution while it sodomizes that august document and the people who claim it their own. The only cure for such a horrendous act of sodomy upon the American people is war.