I mean, article 4 section 4 of the constitution declares:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,…
Now, you and I know what a Republic is, but, is there anything in the constitution from preventing a current state to re-write it’s constitution putting all executive, legislative, and judicial powers in the hands of one person? What if they are elected to that position? I suppose someone could sue the Supreme Court, claiming the the state constitution is unconstitutional.
As a side question, what state’s governor as the most power?
States may not deprive anybody of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. There’s no way a single individual could judge the myriad crimes and lawsuits within a state and satisfy due process.
We have had variations on this question before. Less severe versions asked whether a state could have some sort of monarchy. I can look those threads up for you if you want or can search for them yourself. The states aren’t locked into the rather small variations they have on state government structure. They could probably take on a number of different forms if the people of the state really wanted it but there are U.S. Constitutional limitations on those forms no matter how vague. I can’t see the U.S. government allowing a state to organize itself into anything resembling a true dictatorship. It would run afowl of the U.S. Constitution very quickly in some way.
Ask Goedel – the famous anecdote of he, Einstein, and Morgenstern driving to get Goedel’s papers. Ixnay on the ottenray, Oedel-gay, please! (Don’t have time to retell the whole anecdote, but it’s famous among among logicians, at least).
There is no way to know for sure until one tried but I looked through the generic definition of a parliamentary style of government and there isn’t anything obvious preventing a given state from doing it if they chose. I said earlier that there are only small variations within state government structure. That is true overall but there are examples of states having some unusual features. If you combined all the exceptions into one state government, it would be pretty odd. Louisiana for example has a state legal systems built from parts of French law rather than British Common law and that isn’t a problem. Some states like California have sweeping voter referendums that make law based on popular vote. Nebraska has a single chamber legislative body. Any state could change the way they vote for U.S. Presidents without an obvious problem. There is room for extensive redesign of a state government but the practicality of that is questionable at best.
The governor of Michigan has given himself the right to install city managers to cities and towns that he has determined are in financial trouble. he can install a person or a group to run the city. He can cancel contracts, remove elected officials and sell city property. That is a self imposed dictatorship.
No, that is well within the powers granted to the office of the governor of Michigan by that state’s legislatures. Municipal governments don’t enjoy any kind of sovereignty, and can be established and abolished at the will of the state.
Opponent of Huey Long in Louisiana viewed his administration as dictatorial. In fact, he was the de facto head of the state government when he was serving as senator in Washington (c
Many dictatorships have a de jure head of state with little power and a de facto strongman.
Some of the military governments of states during the reconstruction had sweeping voting restrictions on former confederates, suspension of habeas corpus, and no separation of military and police power until the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. After Reconstruction, southern states often circumvented the Constitution to restrict voting rights, often through one-part rule, poll taxes, and “white primaries.” For African-Americans - and poor whites - most southern states must have resembled “dictatorship” through the 1960s.
The definition of a republican form of government is definately up for interpretation. SCOTUS said it was OK for the non-representative (only western counties participated) Wheeling Convention to in effect depose the existing government in Richmond thereby had the authority to split the Commonwealth of Virginia in accordance with the Constitution.
You are not seriously going to tell only the punchline are you? It sounds like a good geek joke. Plus I have no idea what the post means in context of thread…