Judging Freedom - Oregonians force vote to SECEDE from Oregon

Episode Date: October 14, 2022

Oregonians force vote to SECEDE from the woke state and become part of Idaho: Two counties are set to vote on measure - after nine backed it - due to defund the police, CRT in schools and bail laws www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11313419/Rural-Oregon-conservatives-fed-liberal-politics-want-secede-state.html #Oregon #secede #wokeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi there everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano for Judging Freedom. Today is Friday, October 14th, 2022. It's about five minutes of two in the afternoon here. I'm supposed to look at my watch before we start, sorry. It's about five minutes of two in the afternoon here on the east coast of the United States. I have said this before, but like the last day of summer, even though we're approaching the second half of October, it's absolutely magnificent, gorgeous weather. 3,000 miles from here, there are political firestorms in the state of Oregon. I honestly didn't know about this. This is not a story that Judging Freedom has been following until my producer, Gary Villapiano, pointed it out to me. But half of Oregon, half,

is attempting to secede from the state of Oregon and join the state of Idaho. Now, this would be a novel event in American history. Nine Oregon counties, nine, and if you look at the landmass, some of these counties are huge. Nine Oregon counties have already voted to secede. Two more are voting to secede or not to secede in the elections next month. If the two join the nine, the landmass will be half of Oregon voting to join Idaho. Governor of Idaho says he welcomes them. How can this happen? Well, as I said, it's novel in American history. The Constitution says that no state shall be formed out of another state without the consent of the leaving state. Now, that only happened once in American history, and the Constitution was not followed, and that's when Lincoln and the radical Republicans during the Civil War just took a chunk of Virginia and declared it West Virginia. Obviously, the legislature and the voters of the state of

Virginia didn't consent, but Lincoln and the Congress did it anyway. And if it's been challenged, the challenge hasn't gotten anywhere. So presumably for this to follow the constitution, the leaving state, Oregon, would have to agree probably by a vote of its legislature. The receiving state, Idaho, would have to agree, probably by its legislature as well. I don't think there's any room for Congress here. This is not a federal issue. I can't imagine the leaving state consenting. I mean, this is really half the state is red and half the state is blue. The part that wants to join Idaho is saying, you know, we're not into transgenderism being taught in the schools. We're not into wokeism being extended

into the schools. We're not into Black Lives Matter being mandatory and nothing taught appropriately about American history. The western part of Oregon, it might as well be a part of California, it's very, very leftish. So my prediction is this won't go anywhere, but it is fascinating. Now under the natural law, you know I have written extensively on the natural law. By the way, my newest book, which is an academic book, is coming out next month called Freedom's Anchor. It's a study of the use of the natural law in American constitutional history. It's 400 pages and has 2,000 footnotes. It's an academic work. But under the natural law, everybody has the right to secede. You can secede from the

government in your town if you want. The town can secede from the county. The county can secede from the state. Natural rights means people can move, can leave, can disassociate themselves from the government. Unfortunately, in America, natural law is not followed. And sometimes people try it, which is basically what's being tried with the secession movement in Oregon. I wish them all the success and luck in the world, but I don't expect, I think they'll need it, but I don't think they'll have it. Judge Napolitano on judging freedom.