'Uppity' states taking on the feds

News that the Justice Department is preparing to sue Arizona over its immigration law is discouraging, and it is just the latest round in a growing number of disputes between states and the federal government.

In most cases, we squarely side with states’ rights, because a major, underlying theme throughout the U.S. Constitution is that it restrains federal powers, and leaves the states with considerable latitude in their abilities.

A federal challenge of the Arizona law should be interesting, given that it was specifically written to mirror federal immigration laws and it actually provides better defined protections against discrimination than the federal laws. What would a ruling in favor of the feds have to say about that?

Arizonans are upset that they are having to fight a federal government that has failed to curb an illegal immigration problem that is so bad that the new law was necessary in the first place. A solid majority of the state’s residents support the law because they have to live with the crime and other costs that come with illegal immigration. Critics of the law, particularly those in Washington, just can’t seem to grasp how serious those problems are from their distant perches.

 Again, this is just the latest round in a number of disputes between states and the federal government.

Fourteen states have joined forces to challenge federal health care legislation known as Obamacare on grounds that Congress exceeded its powers in requiring people to have health insurance and in imposing costs and other burdens on the states.

And the state of Montana may find itself in a legal showdown with the feds over firearms legislation that was passed last year, exempting the state from federal regulation of firearms that are made, sold and used within the state.

The state’s position is that Montana-made guns should be exempt from registration, background checks and dealer-licensing because the guns are not crossing state lines.

In a recent visit with the Inter Lake editorial board, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said it is a matter of state sovereignty, and it’s not the only sovereignty matter on his mind.

Schweitzer also has an interest in the state having the ability to import prescription drugs from Canada at lower Canadian prices, but he has long encountered resistance from the federal government.

“I think people in Washington are getting nervous now that some of the states are getting kind of uppity,” Schweitzer said.

He’s got that right. On many issues, it’s about time the states got uppity and asserted themselves against a federal government that is eager to wander into new realms of power whenever it can.