JACKSON – An interesting exchange occurred on the floor of the House recently during debate on whether the state should accept all of the
federal stimulus package funds or let other states have a portion of the money designated for Mississippi.
Rep. Tad Campbell, R-Meridian, asked Rep. Joe Warren, D-Mount Olive, if he had seen another example of a federal law that trumped the state
Constitution and state law like Campbell said the stimulus package did.
Warren said he could not recall one, but added it was unusual economic times and extraordinary measures were needed.
Come on guys.
Federal law overrules state law all the time. There are countless examples – huge examples that any amateur observer of Mississippi history should know.
Federal law superseded the state and gave African Americans the right to vote in the 1960s. In the 1980s federal officials stepped in and said the state Constitution and law that denied Northeast Mississippi 16th Section school land revenue that other parts of the state benefitted from was unconstitutional.
I could go on and on about where federal law trumped state law. And by the way it happens in all states – not just Mississippi.
I give Warren and Campbell the benefit of the doubt. They must have been doing what we all do on occasion – not thinking before speaking.
[...] to a Bobby Harrison blog post, Campbell challenged Warren to name one other instance besides the stimulus package where federal [...]
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