Washington Examiner: State AGs right to resist feds' power grab

The purpose of the conference was to release a report prepared by Cuccinelli and the eight other state attorneys general identifying 21 actions taken by Obama that they consider illegal. “What these nine attorneys general have collectively confirmed is that this administration repeatedly shows disdain for states, federal laws it finds inconvenient, the Constitution and the courts,” the report states. Even allowing for the usual partisan excesses of election-year rhetoric, the report highlights a growing resolve among state officials to resist federal encroachment.

The actions spotlighted in the report run the gamut from the notorious (Obamacare's individual mandate) to the obscure (Office of Surface Mining regulations on coal mines). They cover a wide breadth of federal agencies, ranging from the Environmental Protection Agency's failed efforts to pre-empt Florida water standards (which were upheld by a federal court) to the Department of Justice's challenge against Arizona immigration laws.

At every turn, Obama has sought to expand federal power at the expense of the states. Take the National Labor Relations Board, which threatened to sue South Carolina after 83 percent of the state's voters approved a law guaranteeing secret ballots in union elections. While the NLRB eventually backed down, it still told Boeing officials they could not open a new factory in South Carolina since it is a right-to-work state. Only after Boeing agreed to pay off unions at its older facilities in Seattle with new contracts did the NLRB allow the storied aircraft company to open the new South Carolina facility.