Re: Reproductive Rights and State Benefits

[Mac Norton <mnorton@cavern.uark.edu>]

On Sat, 23 Aug 1997, William H. Geiger III wrote:
> 
> Well i think that you also have to take into account the political setting
> of the times. The Framers of the Constitution were representatives of the
> States all of which had 1st Amendment protections in their State
> Constitutions. Their concerns were not with the States but with a Federal
> Government overriding rights already protected by the States.

Perhaps so, but that says nothing about the federal gov't 
enforcing the First Amendment to the US Constitution against
the states, irrespective of the provisions of their constitutions
or other laws.  It is a difficult thing to get from "Congress 
shall make no law" to "No gov't anywhere in this country 
shall make any law," but we've managed to do it, probably to
our credit on the whole.
MacN