Reading today of Arizona teabaggers wanting to require all presidential candidates to submit "the long form birth certificate" to be eligible for inclusion on Arizona ballots I was struck with an idea.
More inside.
Since the U.S. Constitution sets out the eligibility requirements for president and other elected Federal office. States are preempted from doing so. Any form of identification that is acceptable to the Federal government as proof of citizenship is the sole identification that the states may require.
Now looking at Arizona if the proposed legislation is enacted it is on the face of it unconstitutional.
More to the point, any reasonable person would come to the same conclusion.
My proposal is simple. President Obama issues an executive order directing the justice department to recover all costs resulting from litigation of these dead on arrival laws and resulting Federal court challenges.
When the Federal district (or other) court receives a filing on a perceived frivolous law the court sends a letter to the state that says that if they should not prevail at any level of the Federal court system the Federal government will deduct all associated Federal costs from any monies due to the state now or in the future.
It is within the rights of the states to push the envelope (this is how we know where the boundaries are). I said that pushing the envelope was within the states rights, I did not say that exercising those rights unwisely should be without consequence.
What are your thoughts?