“The aims of the Liberty Act are extremely laudable, but I voted against this bill as a matter of principle. I oppose President Trump’s hateful and xenophobic immigration policy and believe it demands a forceful response, but we cannot violate federal law.

“This bill reminds me of a story an attorney friend of mine told about the time he was in federal court asserting a state law as a bar to federal action. The judge said that his ruling was supreme over the contradictory state law. My friend replied, ‘I guess the Civil War settled that.’

“I support parts of this bill that address the appropriate procedures under which our state may interact with the federal government. That is something we should do. But if we allow states to refuse to follow federal law, we are traveling down a dangerous road that was rejected at the time of the Civil War.

“If New York can choose not to enforce federal immigration law, then Kansas can choose not to enforce the Affordable Care Act or Alabama can choose not to enforce federal civil rights laws. Or if Bernie Sanders had become president, a hostile state could refuse to institute single-payer health care.

“President Trump is a demagogue ¬– the fact that he holds the highest office in the land doesn’t absolve him of that. However, we cannot use his divisiveness as grounds to reject the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution which, in the course of our history, has protected far more people than it has harmed. The principle here is more important than President Trump’s disgraceful actions. Therefore, I voted no on this bill.”