Virginia Pols Spearhead Movement for More States’ Rights

Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is one of several politicians spearheading a proposal for re-balancing state and federal power, through what’s being called the “repeal amendment.” The amendment to the Constitution would, with a vote of 33 states’ legislatures, give states the ability to repeal any federal law passed in Congress. Virginia has a long history of states’ rights activism ? in response to the federally-mandated desegregation of schools in the 1950s, state leaders responded with “massive resistance,” choosing to privatize some school districts to prevent integration. As the South commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Confederacy, is this new emphasis on states’ rights a step towards secessionism?

We speak with Kate Zernike, reporter for our partner The New York Times, and Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law and Professor of History at University of Virginia.