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We also pretend the law doesn’t say what it says. Look at the sanctuary states for illegal immigration and marijuana. Then the red states started doing the same
by ixacto 5y ago
We also pretend the law doesn’t say what it says. Look at the sanctuary states for illegal immigration and marijuana. Then the red states started doing the same thing with second amendment sanctuary states.
Looks like if there’s no political will to enforce the law it doesn’t get enforced.
- shadowgovt 5y agoThe US system is, perhaps, unusual in that it started from a set of independent states that formed a federal government. While the balance of power has shifted century-upon-century towards federal centralization, the power of the federal government to enforce federal law is still constrained by the money spent on federal-level enforcement; states are not generally legally obligated to go out of their way to assist federal law enforcement (and proving obstruction of justice in an inter-jurisdictional situation is pretty difficult most of the time if the states just use "malicious compliance" and stick to the letter of the law). Hence, "sanctuary cities" where the state and local government just doesn't feel obligated to hand over records and resources they aren't legally compelled to. It's basically daring the federal government that if the law is so important, they can spend the money on ICE / FBI / ATF / etc. resources to enforce it (because those resources are paid from a completely different pool than the state or town police).