Constitution Class Handout Faith
Armory
Instructor: Douglas V.
Gibbs 41669
Winchester Road.
www.politicalpistachio.com Temecula,
CA
www.douglasvgibbs.com
www.temeculaconstitutionclass.blogspot.com
12
· Concerning the States
· Full Faith and Credit
· Privileges and Immunities
· Extradition
· Fugitive Slaves
· New States
· Territories and Federal
Property
· Border Security and
Insurrection
Full
Faith and Credit
The Full Faith and
Credit Clause is a clause in the Constitution which states that: “Full
Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and
judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws
prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be
proved, and the Effect thereof.” Put in simple language, under the Full
Faith and Credit Clause judgments rendered in one State are acknowledged in
others; when a U.S. citizen resolves an issue within one of the States that
resolution must be recognized by all other States.
The Founding Fathers
originally intended, with the Full Faith and Credit Clause, to protect the
self-government autonomy of the States, while also promoting union of the
sovereign States as well. To do this, the Founding Fathers needed to make sure
that judicial rulings in one State would be respected by all States, because
otherwise there would be a substantial opportunity for abuse. Doing so affirmed
the autonomy of the individual States, while also ensuring that the states
remained unified.
Without the Full Faith and
Credit Clause, something as simple as a divorce would not be recognized outside
the State where the proceeding took place. If one of the members of the
divorced couple moved to another state, it would be necessary to file all over
again, otherwise that person would still be considered married. However, thanks
to the Full Faith and Credit Clause, the State that serves as the new home of
the transplanted divorcee recognizes the divorce filed and approved in the
State of origin.
The Full Faith and Credit
Clause also protects against abusive litigation. If someone in one State sues
someone and the court delivers a valid judgment, this person cannot file the
same suit in another State. Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, the outcome
of the suit in the first State is recognized and considered to be the final
judgment. Likewise, someone who is ruled against in litigation in a State
cannot flee to another State to evade punishment, because the ruling in the
first State's court is still valid in the new State.
Because of the Full Faith And
Credit Clause, professionals like doctors and lawyers only need to go to school
once. As they move to new States, they can apply for reciprocity in
certification so that they can practice in their new location. Things like
drivers licenses also benefit from the Full Faith and Credit Clause, because
when people move to different States, they can renew their driving licenses in
the new State without having to go through drivers' education a second time. As
long as the standards for licensure are similar between the two States, no
additional training or certification will be required for reciprocity.
Privileges and Immunities
Article IV, Section 2, Clause
1 gives the people of each state all the same privileges and immunities
uniformly in each state. In other words, if a Texan moved to California, the
Texan must be treated by California in no different manner than it treats
Californians. A State, for example, could not pass a law keeping Texans out of
their state, but letting others in. This violates the Constitution. A State
cannot play favoritism in such a manner. All persons must be treated uniformly.
Extradition
Article IV, Section 2, Clause
2 states: A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on
demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered
up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.
Fugitives that flee a State
from justice to another State will be extradited on the demand of
executive authority (governor) of the State from which the person fled from.
The Constitution, in this clause, demands the extradition of fugitives who have
committed "treason, felony or other crime," which means that it
includes all acts prohibited by the laws of a state, including misdemeanors and
small, or petty, offenses.
Since the word “shall” is
used regarding the extradition order by the governor of the State, that means
the extradition order will not be questioned. That also means the accused
cannot defend himself against the charges in the extraditing state. The fugitive may only defend himself against
the charges in the state receiving him.
The courts have determined
that the accused may prevent extradition by offering clear evidence that he was
not in the state he allegedly fled from at the time of the crime in the case, Hyatt
v. People ex rel. Corkran, 188 U.S. 691 (1903).
Fugitive Slaves
Article IV, Section 2, Clause
3 is obsolete because of the end of slavery, as per the 13th Amendment. During the time the Constitution was written,
slaves were seen as property, and the Constitution, as a compromise to assure
that southern states ratified the founding document, included Article IV,
Section 2, Clause 3, which demanded that escaped slaves be returned to their
owners in the south, even if that slave was in a northern state.
The Fugitive Slave Act of
1850 supported this clause of the Constitution, hoping to ensure under penalty
of law that the slaves were in fact returned should they turn up in the north.
Northern States were refusing to return escaped slaves, and the federal
government refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act and the Constitution,
creating, in the minds of the Southern States, a constitutional crisis.
Nullification is often blamed for its part in the onset of the
American Civil War. Those that argue
that nullification was a part of bringing about the War Between the States will
argue that the Southern States were guilty of nullifying perfectly reasonable
federal laws. In reality, the Southern
States did not nullify any federal law.
It was the northern States that actively nullified federal law. They nullified The Fugitive Slave Act by
ignoring the legislation. However, since
The Fugitive Slave Act was constitutional, the nullification of the law by the
northern States was unlawful, and unconstitutional.
New States
Article IV, Section 3, Clause
1 gives Congress the authority to admit new States. However, if a new State is
formed within the borders of an existing State, from a portion of an existing
State, or by combining two States, then the State legislatures of all States
affected must also get involved. A great example of when this provision came
into play is when West Virginia was formed from part of Virginia during the
Civil War. Based on this clause, if the
13 counties in California that threatened to secede in 2010 decided to go
through with it, they would still need approval by the existing California
State Legislature.
Territories and Federal
Property
Article IV, Section 3, Clause
2 gives the Federal Government "power over the territory and property of
the United States." Territories like Puerto Rico falls under this clause,
treating the territories not as individual sovereign states, but as territories
under the control of the U.S. Government.
Washington DC also falls under this clause, which means that Congress
has authority over the functions of the city.
In reality, Washington DC was supposed to only be the seat of
government, and was not supposed to contain any residencies.
Border Security and
Insurrection
“The United States shall
guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,” meaning that each State may have its own
constitution, as well as a representative government based on the rule of law.
The Federal Government, according to this clause, must also protect each State
from invasion, which is a firm directive to the federal government to keep the national
borders secure so as to protect the States from foreign invasion. The Federal Government, in this clause, is
also tasked with quelling insurrection. The writing of this clause was directly
influenced by the occurrence of Shays' Rebellion.
Terms:
Extradite: The surrender of a person charged with a crime by
one state or country to another state or country.
Full Faith and Credit: In the context of the U.S. Constitution, Article IV,
the phrase is defined as requiring all States in the U.S. to recognize and give
effect to the legislation, public records, and judicial decisions of other
States in the United States. Full Faith
and Credit also means: An unconditional commitment to pay interest and
principal in debt, usually issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury or another
government entity.
Nullification: State power to ignore unconstitutional federal law.
Questions
for Discussion:
1. What kind of issues does the Full Faith and
Credit Clause affect in today’s American society?
2. How does the Full Faith and Credit Clause
protect the autonomy of the State, while protecting their unity?
3. For what kind of crimes may a person be
extradited for?
4. The northern States believed the Fugitive
Slave Act to be a bad law, even though it was Constitutional, and believed that
they had a right to nullify it because they perceived it to be immoral. The Federal Government failed to enforce it,
possibly for the same reasons. How did
this make the Southern States feel, and how did this action contribute to the
secession of the Southern States?
5. The federal government is tasked with the
duty of protecting the States against invasion.
How does this affect the issue of illegal immigration?
Resources:
“American Civil War, The War
Of Northern Aggression,” Political Pistachio; March 14, 2011: http://politicalpistachio.blogspot.com/2011/03/american-civil-war-war-of-northern.html
Hyatt v. People ex rel. Corkran,
188 U.S. 691 (1903) (“We are of opinion that, as the relator showed…he was not
within the state of Tennessee at the times stated in the indictments found in
the Tennessee court, nor at any time when the acts were, if ever, committed, he
was not a fugitive from justice within the meaning of the Federal statute upon
that subject…”)
Madison’s
Notes Constitutional Convention, Avalon Project, Yale University: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/debcont.asp
Copyright Douglas V. Gibbs, 2014
