A growing number of Americans are in favor of a national divorce. According to a Bright Line/YouGov poll, 37% of respondents expressed a willingness for their state to secede. Some Texans have been threatening secession for years, but states like California and New Hampshire also have growing secessionist groups.
But could a state actually legally secede?
“Let me begin with a one word answer. No,” University of California, Berkeley constitutional law professor Daniel Farber said.
He pointed to the Supreme Court ruling of Texas v. White in 1869, where the Court ruled that Texas was “an indestructible union” from which no state could secede.
But the century and a half year old court case is not a deterrent for Daniel Miller, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement. He believes Texas can and will secede because secession is not explicitly addressed in the U.S. Constitution.
“You have these constitutional experts that love to talk about its unconstitutionality. But when you ask them to point out in the Constitution, where states are forbidden from withdrawing from the union, they can’t do it,” Miller said.
Secession expert and author Richard Kreitner said it’s hard to predict what would happen if a state tried to secede without approval from the federal government.
“It’s not clear to me at all, that if Texas seceded, the Biden administration is going to send an army to Texas, I mean, that’d be absurd,” Kreitner said. “I live in New York. I’m not going to war to keep Texas in the union.”
Legality aside, secession is a logistical nightmare.
“It would make Brexit look like a picnic. It really would,” Farber said.
Miller remains optimistic.
“Those are things that are not insurmountable,” Miller said.
