Thursday, January 24, 2013

Now they want a new Sovereignty Commission

In a previous post entitled "The hissing possums are on the move", I mentioned that Rep. Gary "We Backwoods" Chism (R - Columbus) and Rep. Jeff Smith (R - Columbus) had penned the "Mississippi Balance of Powers Act" in response to Gov. Ross Barnett's Phil Bryant's call for legislation reaffirming interposition and nullification.

Sam Hall over at the Clarion-Ledger has a beautiful take-apart of their saber-rattling pre-secession bill.  The bill would create the Joint Legislative Committee on the Neutralization of Federal Laws, which would set up a committee of 12 hissing possums to decide whether or not federal laws (be they executive orders, Congressional statutes, or decisions of the United States Supreme Court) are "constitutional."  And once this committee decides a federal law is "unconstitutional", the law will apparently "not apply" in Mississippi.

Then the bill goes on to ignore that whole Article III thing altogether and declare that the decisions of this all-powerful committee are not subject to the review of the lower federal courts, only the United States Supreme Court.  And if the United States Supreme Court finds the committee to be in error?
"...the people’s interest shall be maintained and retained through state referendum."
You know, I can think of a state referendum right now that might actually maintain the people's interest.  But I don't think the authors of this bill were referencing a recall.

This is going to be more embarrassing before it's over, I'm afraid.

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