Much of the plot for PANTEX draws on the influence of todays mythology about Texas secession. Heres a bit on that topic. Texas Secession Does Texas have the right to secede from the Union? In a word, no. Here is what the Honorable Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, said in response to an inquiry in 2006 from another writer: “I am afraid I cannot be of much help with your problem, principally because I cannot imagine that such a question could ever reach the Supreme Court. To begin with, the answer is clear. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. (Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, one Nation, indivisible.) Secondly, I find it difficult to envision who the parties to this lawsuit might be. Is the State suing the United States for a declaratory judgment? But the United States cannot be sued without its consent, and it has not consented to this sort of suit. I am sure that poetic license can overcome all that — but you do not need legal advice for that. Good luck with your screenplay.” Nevertheless, here are a few common misperceptions regarding Texas that persist today. “The right of secession is in the Texas State Constitution.” There is no language in the document concerning a right of secession. “Texas was once a Republic and is, therefore, a special case.” The 1845 Joint Resolution Annexing Texas to the United States contains no language granting Texas a right to secede. A third but very different myth is this. “Texas has the right to divide up into five different states.” It did until the Civil War. Division is not secession, of course. And the problem with the five-state scenario is that the language allowing this self-division was not retained in the act readmitting Texas after the war. But what about the four states that were admitted through division, the most recent being West Virginia in 1863? Can any such new states be created today? To be generous, perhaps. Any such changes are up to Congress. Check out Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. So. It seems that if people within a portion of any of the fifty States, not just Texas, want separate statehood, at least two major hurdles must be cleared. First, convince their own state to allow such a pursuit. Second, sell that notion to Congress and to the rest of the country. Good luck with that.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 00:50:53 +0000
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