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Paul Bender, an Arizona State University constitutional-law professor doesn't seem to know his history very well. Several times in American history states threatened to seceded from the Union prior to the Civil War. One time it was Northern states. And there is NOTHING in the Constitution that forbids states from seceding.
A good number of legal scholars will tell you that Lincoln's invasion of the South to prevent them from seceding was unconstitutional. The petition for Arizona to seceded from the union seem to be at this URL: Last to sign the petition you have to create an account with the White House which will probably mean you will get junk email from Obama to vote for him, and more importantly if you sign the petition you will probably be labeled an anti-government terrorists and the FBI and Homeland Security will start reading your emails just to make sure you are not a criminal.
Petition pushes for Arizona to secede By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Nov 13, 2012 5:27 PM More than 14,000 people have signed a petition that calls for Arizona to “peacefully” secede from the United States and form “its own new government.” Republican Gov. Jan Brewer does not support the effort. The online petition through the White House’s petition page was created on Nov. 10 by Nicholas M. of Gilbert. The White House page did not provide petitioners’ last names. “The citizens of the great state of Arizona have the right to stand for their principles,” the petition states. “That man is granted unalienable rights, which are not the dispensations of the government, but find their beginnings in God and come from God alone. These are the principles that our forefathers stood for, the principles upon which our Constitution is based, and those in which we firmly place our belief and resolve.” As of Tuesday, 14,369 people had signed onto the proposal. The petition needs 25,000 signatures by Dec. 10 for the White House to consider the issue. Paul Bender, an Arizona State University constitutional-law professor, pointed out there once was a war over the secession issue. “That was called the Civil War,” he said, laughing. “I don't think we want to go through that again. You can’t, just by yourself, leave the union. There really is nothing in the Constitution that lets anybody leave. There’s stuff about adding states, but there’s nothing that suggests you can leave once you join. If anyone is serious about this, it’s the lunatic fringe.” Bender’s prediction: “It won’t happen.” Brewer, who has long supported states’ rights, said Tuesday that she doesn’t support such an idea. “I don’t know a whole lot about it, but you know, I believe, the states make up the best country in the whole wide world, and that’s the United States of America,” the governor said. “You know, I believe in the United States of America.” Petitions seeking secession for more than two dozen states have been filed on the White House website, USA Today reports. |