Wall Street Journal: How to Secede from a State Without Really Trying

Secession fever is spreading. In red and blue pockets of America, disgruntled residents are organizing efforts to split up with their home states, from liberals in southern Arizona to conservatives in rural Colorado and Western Maryland.

The biggest obstacle for these movements would seem to be the Constitution, which requires secessionists to get the blessing of their state Legislature and then Congress.

There might be an easier way, says Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor at Northwestern University, in a provocative post at Volokh Conspiracy. Rather than forming a new “51st” state, how about seceding to join an existing state?

“The Constitution’s requirement of home-state and congressional consent only clearly applies to the creation of a ‘new state,’ ” Mr. Kontorovich writes.


More at [link to blogs.wsj.com]