Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Ellisville) introduced Senate Bill 2084 (SB2084) on Jan. 26. The legislation would prohibit state agencies, political subdivisions and their employees from utilizing personnel or resources to “enforce, administer or cooperate with an executive order issued by the President of the United States that has not been affirmed by a vote of Congress and signed into law as prescribed by the United States Constitution.”
It would also establish the same prohibition on state cooperation with “a policy directive issued by the United States Department of Justice to law enforcement agencies in this state that has not been affirmed by a vote of Congress and signed into law as prescribed by the United States Constitution.”
It remains unclear how the state would determine if an individual DOJ directive or presidential executive order would be subject to noncooperation under the proposed law. The legislation would likely require further action to implement if passed into law.
SB2084 follows the blueprint “Father of the Constitution,” created for resisting federal power. In Federalist 46 James Madison outlined several steps that states can take to effectively stop “an unwarrantable measure,” or “even a warrantable measure” of the federal government. Madison called for “refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union” as a way to successfully thwart federal acts.
Because the federal government depends on state assistance for implementation and enforcement of almost all of its edicts and programs, barring state cooperation of executive orders and DOJ directives would likely make them nearly impossible to enact in Mississippi from a practical standpoint.
LEGAL BASIS
