Conservatives To Push For Constitutional Amendment That States Can Supersede Federal Laws

Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Jim Howell is promoting a constitutional amendment that would allow a state to override any federal law it doesn’t like. And Howell, appearing with Georgetown Law Professor Randy Barnett on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s Fox Business Network show, says he has incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on his side.

The pair say the plan is a response to the federal overreach created by “two ‘progressive’ constitutional amendments adopted in 1913” — the 16th Amendment creating a federal income tax and the 17th Amendment allowing for the direct election of U.S. Senators, which were previously appointed by state legislatures.

Undoing both those amendments has been a key tenet of tea party rhetoric for a while now.

Howell plans to kick off the repeal amendment push by bringing a bill calling for a Constitutional Convention to the floor of the Virginia legislature this January. If he can get 2/3 of the states to go along with calling for a Constitutonal Convention, then that would trigger one of the two amendment processes under Article Five of the Constitution.

Howell told Napolitano that Cantor is “very interested” in the proposal.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.