The DPVA remains asleep at the switch, but fortunately, Sen. McEachin is willing and able to speak out against the latest lunacy from Pat Robertson’s Manchurian candidate/governor.
Richmond – Today, Senator A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) responded to Governor McDonnell’s comments in Roanoke yesterday (as quoted by the Roanoke Times) that he “declined” to express an opinion on the legitimacy of nullification. Senator McEachin said, “I am extremely dismayed and concerned that our governor has apparently neglected to review recent American history or leading Supreme Court cases. Not even sixty years ago, in a response to attempts to ignore Brown v. Board of Education in which African-American children were first given the opportunity for an equal integrated education with white children, the Supreme Court ruled on Cooper v. Aaron. In this extremely significant case, the Court ruled that because the Supremacy Clause of Article VI made the United States Constitution the Supreme law of the land and Marbury v. Madison gave the Supreme Court the final power of judicial review, then all states are bound by federal law and bound by Supreme Court decisions.
“But even if the Governor has forgotten these Constitutional law principles, he should surely recall the amount of blood spilled, families and homes decimated and young men killed the last time states made foolish decisions based on nullification. Surely, as governor of Virginia which is criss-crossed with battlefields and graveyards of those who died fighting in that war and those who died trying to protect their homes and families and the numbers of slaves and free blacks who died trying to protect their loved ones and their few and meager possessions, he should know that no good can come of this kind of foolish and dangerous talk.
“We are Americans, proud to be part of the greatest democracy on earth, and if we disagree we have legal, political and legislative means to resolve those disagreements. Living in a democracy means that if we don’t like what is happening we will have an election and we can peaceably, within our Constitutional procedures and rights, address those grievances.
“Finally, like every other elected official, Governor McDonnell took an oath to uphold the US Constitution and all the Articles and clauses within that document. Nullification is not legal and declining to respond is not acceptable. I expect our governor to uphold the law and the Constitution and to refute unconstitutional and illegal drivel when he hears it.“
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