Massachusetts and California can deny their citizens the right to keep and bear arms – let them, it’s fine with me. I’ll live in a state where citizens are armed with no federal say so whatsoever.

The President could not overturn the Judiciary or Legislative branches on this but he could provide a blanket pardon for all those who run afoul of the law. Likewise, Congress could pass legislation that countermands whatever decision the courts come up with. Although the courts would perhaps also rule improperly on those cases, Congress can pass laws faster than the courts can decide cases.

I need to give a ‘thumbs up’ to Johnson as well in that the States have largely abdicated their authority and forgotten their Constitutional rights (9th and 10th Amendments).

Of course, that brings up the 17th Amendment which, by changing the way Senators are elected, took a lot of power away from the States.

And why do people seemingly regard the Constitution as something chiseled in granite? I suppose that when minority factions win an interpretation of the Constitution that favors them, that they would like the majority to forget that the Constitution is amendable.

With these things in mind, consider the following. Note that the 11th A. was made to “overturn” the USSC’s decision in Chisholm v. Georgia (1793). So when the USSC rubbed the states the wrong way in the early days of the country, the Constitution-savvy states put the feds back on its constitutional leash by amending the Constitution. But as a consequence of widespread ignorance of the Constitution today, particularly ignorance of state sovereignty among state government leaders, the states are unnecessarily letting themselves be victimized by the power-hungry, Constitution-ignoring federal government.

Again, the states, not the federal government, are the ultimate seat of authority in the good old USA.