Supreme Court cases for and against secession

BuckeyeWarrior

Sergeant
Joined
Jan 1, 2020
Location
Ohio
I am creating this thread as a companion piece to my thread; https://civilwartalk.com/threads/di...sion-rebellion-of-the-southern-states.169547/

Here I'm looking for any evidence from supreme court cases, either as ratio decidendi or obiter dictum, on secession either for or against. Also will accept personal writings from supreme court justices on the issue. Since secession itself probably wasn't address will also accept statements on the nature of the union or statements on state sovereignty as related to secession. Please explain why you think this evidence supports/does not support secession. This thread is not to discuss/debate if the supreme court was correct on their statements or decisions though.

I'll begin with this;

"The Constitution of the United States was ordained and established not by the States in their sovereign capacities, but emphatically, as the preamble of the Constitution declares, by ‘the people of the United States." Joseph Story Martin v Hunter 1821

If the states did not establish the constitution then they can't break it. Only the people of the United States can break it.

and this;

"The people made the constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their will, and lives only by their will. But this supreme and irresistible power to make or to unmake, resides only in the whole body of the people; not in any sub-division of them. The attempt of any of the parts to exercise it is usurpation, and ought to be repelled by those to whom the people have delegated their power of repelling it." Chief Justice John Marshall Cohens v Virginia 1821

Justice Marshall again reiterates that the constitution was created by the whole people and goes further to say no sub-division of them can unmake it.
 
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