> We’re a federation of 50 sovereign states, not a single state.
Not since Appomattox and the subsequent enactment of the Civil War Amendments — and arguably not even then (see the Supremacy Clause and the Oath of Office Clause in the original Constitution).
State "sovereignty" (a.k.a. "states' rights") is basically a fig leaf that occasionally gets dragged out — often by racists — in pushing back against national standards of decent behavior. Just one example: In 1957, President Eisenhower invoked the Insurrection Act, federalized the Arkansas National Guard, and sent in the 101st Airborne, to enforce compulsory desegregation of Little Rock schools, after local officials and the state's governor cited "states' rights" as a purported justification for flouting the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling. [0] The Supreme Court's subsequent Cooper v. Aaron decision rejecting the Arkansas view was — uniquely in the Court's history — signed, not merely joined, by all nine justices. [1]
Not since Appomattox and the subsequent enactment of the Civil War Amendments — and arguably not even then (see the Supremacy Clause and the Oath of Office Clause in the original Constitution).
State "sovereignty" (a.k.a. "states' rights") is basically a fig leaf that occasionally gets dragged out — often by racists — in pushing back against national standards of decent behavior. Just one example: In 1957, President Eisenhower invoked the Insurrection Act, federalized the Arkansas National Guard, and sent in the 101st Airborne, to enforce compulsory desegregation of Little Rock schools, after local officials and the state's governor cited "states' rights" as a purported justification for flouting the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling. [0] The Supreme Court's subsequent Cooper v. Aaron decision rejecting the Arkansas view was — uniquely in the Court's history — signed, not merely joined, by all nine justices. [1]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_v._Aaron