Nullification

MANIFESTO

The expected Republican backlash to the health care reform bill has begun, and it's somewhat interesting on its face. Viz., a number of states (the vast majority red) have announced they'll sue the feds over the bill.

Their rationale is a simple one: The feds don't have the Constitutional right to force individual states to abide by the law.

Now, I have to admit that I'm very amused by this argument, because it essentially brings us back to 1860. That is, the very notion of a federal system has to do with all entities abiding by its laws. This has certainly been the case with civil rights, environmental concerns, Social Security, et allia.

I don't have time to expand on this, but this'll be an interesting exercise as it plays out. If, indeed, it does go to the Supreme Court, who knows what will happen, but it seems to me that overturning the HCR bill would open a can of worms that could get us right back to Jim Crow days.

UPDATE — Josh Marshall elucidates.