[politicalmerc]

This kind of sophistry is what keeps the legal profession in business.

You are so right! In one of the earlier posts a fellow cited Article IV Section 3 Clause 1 that says that new states may be formed but not out of old states without the consent of the state.

We have sort of beat this horse to death. I love your "insane asylum" quote (I'm married to a girl from SC). My point was minor to start such a string of posts:

Counties cannot secede because they are not sovereign states. They can petition the state to let them go, but why would CA do that? In other words the Constitution forbids the Union of the USA from recognizing these counties as a State without the permission of the California Legislature.

If CA agrees it is hardly secession its a split. If the larger part wanted to "eject" the smaller part I suppose they could push through a bill to exclude them from the state and the smaller part could apply for statehood.

Back to your comment, this is what keeps lawyers in business.

[jonascord]

It's a quote from former SC congressman James L. Petigru. He made it soon after SC seceded. He wasn't too popular in his home town of Charleston. The Fire Eaters, Democrats all. wanted a war, much like today, with the belief that their Right makes Might. (As usual, they had it bass-ackwards.)

Personally, I hope the dims don't get smart, and keep running down the road to CW2. Perhaps we can get our country back, and I can hope that the casualty lists aren't too long.