Louisiana Defends States Rights by Governing Every State
Louisiana asked the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday to preserve state sovereignty by letting Louisiana determine vehicle emissions policy for the other 49 states. Attorney General Liz Murrill argued that California and several neighboring jurisdictions had violated local control by adopting cleaner-car standards without first obtaining permission from Baton Rouge. Under Louisiana’s theory, each state remains free to regulate vehicles within its borders so long as those regulations match Louisiana’s preference for larger engines, cheaper gasoline and dashboard warning lights that remain respectfully illuminated.
President Donald Trump praised the constitutional breakthrough as a victory for freedom, particularly the freedom of one state to make decisions on behalf of people who declined to live there. “Louisiana is a tremendous state with tremendous roads, and if Louisiana wants a certain car, California should want that car too,” Trump said. “That is states’ rights, because every state gets to choose, and Louisiana very generously makes the choice for everybody.” Administration officials said the doctrine could reduce election expenses by relieving voters in New York, Michigan and Oregon of the administrative burden of forming their own policy preferences.
Louisiana officials said they suffered an urgent injury whenever a driver in Sacramento purchased a low-emission vehicle that might influence automobile manufacturing nationwide. The state’s lawyers described this as coercion by consumer demand, a previously unrecognized constitutional violation in which companies respond to large markets instead of awaiting instructions from Louisiana legislators. Legal analysts said the argument establishes standing whenever another state permits conduct Louisiana dislikes, especially when the conduct can be photographed beside a gas pump and inserted into a fundraising email.
The case offers a streamlined model for American federalism. Massachusetts could prohibit leaf blowers in Texas, Vermont could require every Florida breakfast to include artisanal syrup, and California could order emissions inspections for Louisiana fishing boats. Each mandate would qualify as local self-government because a state issued it, even though every other state would lose the ability to govern itself. Louisiana has therefore resolved the nation’s long-running dispute over states’ rights: every state is sovereign, and Louisiana is all of them.
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