ADVERTISEMENT
Superintendent Tony Thurmond promised to have ICE agents arrested. Former US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra vowed to “police the immigration police. “ These are the leading candidates to become governor of the most populous state in the union. One might ask: Can they actually do any of this? The answer, rooted not in opinion but in two centuries of constitutional law, is no. And yet the question almost never gets asked, because the performance is the point. Under the Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the US Constitution, and under longstanding Supreme Court precedent, states may not criminally prosecute federal officers for actions taken in the lawful course of their federal duties,
ADVERTISEMENT
