Good day all. As I’ve mentioned before, Anger Central is located in the State of New Hampshire in the Northeaster United States. Our motto is Live Free or Die and we have an article in our State Constitution that codifies the Right of Rebellion.
We also have, or had, a state law mandating annual car safety inspections. Recently, the State suspended the annual inspections, sadly not before I had to have one done on the Anger Central Primary vehicle. (SWMBO’s care should be exempt, but if anyone needs it, it’s her car) According to the Concord Monitor:
The Department of Justice and the Department of Safety issued a statement that the vehicle inspection program “is suspended until further notice,” and nobody is authorized to issue state inspection stickers.
This has led to a great deal of confusion. When I heard about it, I contacted my local station and asked them about it. I was told that I was out of luck since the new law didn’t go into effect until February. (I had to have mine done in January…Damn IT!)
The confusion came about because the state legislature voted to end the inspection program as of Jan. 31, but didn’t get permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to end pollution testing that is required under the Clean Air Act.
And to that, I, as do many others, say Screw the EPA!!
That led Gordon-Darby, the company that makes the equipment used to test auto air pollution, to file suit and a U.S. District Court judge ordered the inspection program to continue.
Now that sounds rather corrupt. This company basically lost it’s contract and instead of moving on and looking for other business, went whining to the courts to force people to pay them for a service they don’t want. The only problem with that was the New Hampshire Executive Council.
But then the state Executive Council declined to review the contract with Gordon-Darby, leaving no authorized vendor to test your tailpipe emissions. That effectively ended the inspection, although it leaves open the possibility that the state will face large fines under the Clean Air Act.
One of the problems with these inspections is that they are generally a complete waste of time and money. Modern cars have extensive antipollution systems and cars today are far cleaner running then the ones made 20 years ago, and those were far cleaner then the ones made when the EPA was set up. Basically, if the antipollution systems aren’t working, the car is probably in pretty bad shape. As for the talk of fines, that is a topic for another day.
In the mean time, we have the lawsuit. The judge, one Landya McCafferty, is an Obama judge. She is telling New Hampshire that they WILL reinstate this program because she is in charge and not the voters or their representatives. New Hampshire’s basic response?
U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty had issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the Commissioners “from taking or directing any action to terminate, suspend, or otherwise cease implementation or enforcement of” the program. On Thursday, February 26th, McCafferty denied the state’s request to stay that order.
The state was made aware by federal and state officials that repealing the inspection program without first obtaining the EPA’s approval regarding federal environmental law would violate the Clean Air Act.
The story then quotes her order, which is rather technical, but the basic ruling is that she is in charge and doesn’t care what anyone else says, The state will comply or else.
She said the Commissioners are subject to a court order enjoining them “from taking or directing any action to terminate, suspend, or otherwise cease implementation or enforcement of the” program and requiring them “to take all steps necessary to resume and ensure the continued implementation and enforcement of” that program.
“This legislation was enacted despite clear communications to the State from both the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services —one of the defendants in this very case—as well as the EPA that a repeal of state statutory authority to administer the I/M program would violate the Clean Air Act and could lead to civil penalties, loss of federal funds, or even enforcement actions from the EPA or via a citizen suit.
“New Hampshire did not heed these warnings,” McCafferty wrote.
The judge has been making threats of fines and all the other usual rigamarole judges like to toss about with abandon. The problem for her is that New Hampshire is not backing down.
On Thursday, Executive Councilor John Stephen, R-Manchester, said a federal district judge does not have the authority to override a lawful decision made by the council.
“Make no mistake about what this contract actually is. Gordon-Darby collects mandatory fees from every driver in this state. That is a de facto tax on every Granite Stater who owns a car. The only people who have the authority to impose that kind of burden on the citizens of this state are elected legislators — not federal judges, and not government contractors with a 20-year monopoly. Because there was no enacted policy requirement at the time of our vote, we cannot be forced into any contract that is contrary to our state policy, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with that action,” Stephen said.
“What this court has done is unprecedented. A federal judge is attempting to compel a sovereign state to impose a mandatory fee on its own citizens against the will of its elected officials. If this precedent stands, no state constitutional office in America is safe from being commandeered by a federal court. The Executive Council will not accept that,” he said.
“Finally, I will reiterate: any company that uses a federal court to try to force a de facto tax on the people of New Hampshire should not receive another dollar of state business, and I will do all I can to assure that as long as I serve on this Council. That is a promise,” Stephen said.
Of course, not all of the Executive Council agree with this statement.
Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill, D-Lebanon, disagreed.
First, she’s a Democrat so of course she’s all in favor of absolute power vested in the ruling elite. This is the same party that recently tried to push through a state income tax that no one wants, the state doesn’t need and is opposed by most people. I won’t bother quoting her, you can read her remarks in the InDepthNH story.
At the emergency meeting of the Executive Council, Attorney General Formella advised the Council to enter into a short-term contract to comply with the judge’s ruling while giving the state sufficient time to secure the necessary federal government approvals to fully repeal auto inspections in New Hampshire.
The majority of the Executive Council voted against the AG’s recommendations.
“The majority of the Executive Council voted to disregard the AG’s guidance, and the result is now more confusion for residents and costs for taxpayers. Brinksmanship is a risky strategy, and the taxpayers are the ones who pay the price,” Liot Hill said.
The New Hampshire House Majority leader is also in agreement that this judge has crossed the line.
House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, said, “Of course an unaccountable federal judge continues to side with self-interested foreign corporations against the will of the people. “Judges are not legislators, and they do not get to determine the law in this state. New Hampshire has kicked Gordon Darby to the curb and we have no intention of ever going back. Vehicle inspections are dead in the Live Free or Die state, no matter what delusion this judge is under,” Osborne said.
As I said before, this is an Obama Judge. Very few of them give a damn about the Constitution or the individual rights of the people. They certainly don’t consider the 10th Amendment to be relevant today. For reference, here is the text of the 10 Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.
Now there are those, and I won’t be surprised if this idiot Obama judge is one of those people, who will say that the Supremacy Clause overrides the 10th Amendment. In some cases yes, in most cases no. Where it does is when a state tries to restrict people’s constitutional rights. Many federal civil rights laws are a case in point.
However, this is a classic 10th Amendment situation. The State of New Hampshire has determined that the State inspections are no longer needed. They have ended the contract with a vendor and told people that from now on, they don’t have to cough up $40 each year. (The actual cost varied) Now a judge is trying to force a state to pay a private vendor for a service the state doesn’t want.
Can we say constitutional crises? Sure we can! I’m sure the judge is going to issue an order and that it will be refused. Then comes the fun part. Normally you would see a contempt of court charge. Now how would this be enforced? I asked Grok and basically, the judge would send out federal marshals to enforce her order. However, the Marshal Service is part of the Executive Branch and not the Judicial Branch. It’s possible that the DoJ instructs the marshals to not follow this judges orders.
This leads to another possibility. The court could appoint it’s own agents to carry out the court’s orders. Now this leads to another problem. What if the state instructs its own law enforcement officers to protect the people this judge is going after? Are those court appointed agents going to draw weapons on the New Hampshire State Police? I think not, especially since they would probably be shot.
Now this is all worst case scenarios and what ifs. I don’t think this idiot judge is so stupid and arrogant that she causes a firefight between State law enforcement officers and her, for lack of a better term, mercenaries. They would lose and the next thing to happen would be New Hampshire Law Enforcement agents going into that federal courthouse and arresting the judge. You can see why I consider this to be a great story for a novel. I think this would be resolved long before it got to that point.
I suspect that we’re going to see a two phased attack on this judge’s ruling. First will be through the courts. The next level is the 1st Circuit Court of appeals is the next level, but they are solidly, Democrat. They are being called the “Worst Circuit” court of appeals by some and are now replacing the 9th circuit as the court being overturned by SCOTUS.
The second phase will be having the Trump Administration expedite the “Permission” to end the program. While you will have deep state moles in the EPA who will try and slow walk or stop the changes, the Trump people running the EPA will quash them as soon as they find out. In the end, New Hampshire is going to win and yet another Libtard COB judge is going to get bitch slapped.
Thatisall
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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