Yesterday, Utah’s Republican-led House Revenue and Taxation Committee approved a measure to rewrite the oaths taken by state officials by “amending the language to put the Utah Constitution ahead of the U.S. Constitution in the oath.”
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that state Rep. Brian Greene led the fight to “change the oath of office and require elected officials to swear to defend Utah’s Constitution first, ahead of the U.S. Constitution.” Greene insisted that he wanted the oath to reflect “our duty as state legislators to first and foremost uphold the Constitution and make sure the federal Constitution does not run roughshod over the state Constitution.”
Greene, who recently raised eyebrows with his suggestion that a married man who has sex with his wife while she is unconscious should not be charged with rape, says on his website that he wants to amend the U.S. Constitution with a Countermand Amendment to allow states to nullify federal laws they don’t like and effectively overturn the Supremacy Clause.
The Republican lawmaker has also tried to give local sheriffs the authority to arrest federal officials for enforcing gun laws.
The state House and Senate must approve the measure with a two-thirds majority in order to put the constitutional change up for a statewide referendum.
HT RWW reader Elaine.
