The Independent State Legislature doctrine

Want to see the left wing media and its leftist followers completely bat guano crazy?

Just mention the “independent state legislature” doctrine that is gaining traction around the country.....

Simply stated, the independent state legislature doctrine says that the various state legislatures throughout the country are discrete sovereign units with functions specifically reserved to them by the Constitution. There are three main sources of that reservation of state sovereignty: (1) Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution, which reserves to the states the power to determine the “time, place, and manner” of elections; (2) Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution that reserves to the Legislature the power to determine the method of electing the President of the United States, and (3) the 10th Amendment, which reserves to the states every other power not specifically granted to Federal Government by the Constitution.

It is important to note that the powers are “reserved to the states” and not “granted” to the states by the Constitution. The Federal Government was never intended by the Founders to be the source of “sovereignty” in this country. State Legislatures were, and their power was “limited” by the Constitution. The states granted the Federal government power in the Constitution, not the other way around.

The Left denies this fact, and brands anyone who holds it as uninformed and stupid. They are wrong, of course, and completely ignore the statements by the Founders to the contrary. I start with the Federalist No. 45 where James Madison observes that the Federal Government must rely on the states for its power and organization, whereas the states don’t need the Feds for anything. That is the core of the “independent state legislature” doctrine, and it was held for more than 150 years in this country. It’s just lately that we have forgotten....