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Re: UK counties
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judy stein
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Oct 23, 2003 07:36 PDT
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On Thu, 23 Oct 2003, [iso-8859-1] Beck Laxton wrote:
| | Do other countries have this problem - do the US state
boundaries ever change? Or is it only in the UK that we put up
with this kind of nonsense?
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U.S. state boundaries are inviolate; the states are fundamentally
"countries" unto themselves that have voluntarily committed to a
federation. (There's a constant tug-of-war here between "states'
rights" and what the federal government wants to impose on the
nation as a whole--it was one factor in the kerfuffle over the
Supreme Court deciding the 2000 election.)
Within a state, county boundaries are a matter local to the
individual state; I'm not sure the federal government has any
jurisdiction over what the states do in establishing their
counties, unless it would affect voting districts in such a way
that a particular group (e.g., African-Americans) would be
deprived of equal representation. States do redraw county
boundaries occasionally.
Judy Stein
Long Branch, NJ
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+ Judy Stein * The Author's Friend * jst-@panix.com +
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