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What was the scope of Madison's proposed veto of state laws? Did it apply only to federal constitutional issues, that is, state laws that allegedly violated the U.S. Constitution? Or did the veto include state laws that raised no explicit federal constitutional issues but had an undesirable impact on other states (similar to the constitutional problems now raised by Art. IV's Privileges and Immunities Clause and the Dormant Comment Clause--if it is possible to distinguish this class of negative quasi-constitutional effects from straightforward constitutional issues)? Or was the veto even more intrusive permitting the federal government to veto state laws that raised no federal constitutional issues, no quasi-constitutional issues, but were undesirable--at least from the federal government's perspective--on policy grounds?
Bobby Lipkin
Widener University School of Law Delaware |
