Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Contracts clause and the California rule

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

It is not directly applicable unless the state is seriously inhibiting local contracts.  But the inhibition is from the state legislature, they are in effect enforcing the rule, and they have sovereignty as we saw in the California case on referendum. 

San Diego lost, voters in the local referendum ceded to the state legislature, the US Supremes agreed.  If that is allowed, then legislative enforcement of the California rule is also. The former caused much more harm than the later.

But enforcing their union rules on local government has drawbacks, it makes the state responsible for short falls.  It also makes a federal bailout impossible, it is a different form of government.

Something worse. Elected mayors in California do not have free speech and assembly, not yet.  That is a denial of a fundamental to voters, they cannot elect a mayor who speaks freely.

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