Moments after Donald Trump became president-elect Tuesday night, some Californians began hatching a secession plan on social media for the state, which voted largely for Hillary Clinton.
That’s secession. Not succession.
Many of the remarks were made in jest, but since writing an initial story about what’s being called Calexit, an echo of the controversial Brexit that happened when Britain exited the European Union earlier this year, my inbox has been flooded with emails from secession supporters and that story has been one of the most popular on The San Diego Union-Tribune’s website.
Union-Tribune editorial: All this secession talk is just a waste of time in California
One person wrote: “I would love to be a founder citizen of the bright, powerful, optimistic new country of California.”
Another emailer asked me to send him information on how to be an active part of the movement. As if it could really happen.
Could it? Here’s what you should know about Calexit.
1. There is already an ‘official’ effort to secede.
It’s called the Yes California Independence Campaign, and it protested Wednesday. It describes itself a “nonviolent campaign to establish the country of California using any and all legal and constitutional means to do so,” and it offers a 9-point case for independence which includes “peace and security,” “immigration” and “the environment.” It even hopes to hold a referendum vote in 2018 for Independence. (Imagine that signature drive.)
For more on this movement, visit Yes California.
2. This isn’t the first such movement, but all others have been (surprise, surprise) ineffective.
As a matter of fact, some Oregonians are feeling the same way right now and have filed the Oregon Secession Act since Trump’s election win. Texas is the other notable state with efforts over the years to get secession efforts going. Secession was even considered for this year’s Texas GOP convention, but a proposal fell two votes short in a lower committee decision before the big show.
3. There is little constitutional guidance on secession.
In 1869, a Supreme Court decision Texas v. White held that individual states could not secede from the Union except through revolution or through consent of the other states. Notably, the largest effort of eleven states attempting to secede in 1860 failed in a loss of the Civil War. West Virginia did essentially secede from Virginia in 1863 though, and President Abraham Lincoln approved that.
4. If you ask the White House to help, the White House will say no.
More than 100,000 people signed a White House petition to allow Texas to secede in 2012. In response, the the Obama administration basically gave a hard no. A spokesman encouraged the discussion but also said “as we value a healthy debate, we don't let that debate tear us apart.” He also reminded that “more than 600,000 Americans died in a long and bloody civil war that vindicated the principle that the Constitution establishes a permanent union between the States.”
So the long and the short of it is that it can’t happen, or that there isn’t any sort of simple, straightforward path for people passionate about secession. (Sorry, secessionists.)
Yes California’s hope would be to achieve a referendum and send a California delegation to Washington to propose a Constitutional Amendment. Or plan B is to call for a “convention of the states” and ask for independence.
Despite that impossibly tall order, people won’t stop talking about secession.
What do you think of all this secession talk? Let us know below or on social media.
Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @abbyhamblin
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