Friday’s post on the Texas AG’s petition to the bankruptcy court brings two different reader reactions. Oddly, I agree with them both. The first makes a solid point about the validity of state laws:
Either we are a nation ruled by law or not. Just because it is fashionable to have a politburo in DC run the car industry right now doesn’t mean that we can abandon the principle of rule by law. Why the law exists or how it came to be a law is completely immaterial.
The “politburo in DC” is actually a U.S. federal bankruptcy judge in New York, but the argument stands. The second makes an equally valid point about how state laws are customized like Saville Row suits to fit the needs of a particular industry:Â
One always hears local car dealer ads on TV where the guy says something like “We’re gonna be closed Saturday, so we can spend the time slashing prices to get ready for our big, ‘Fourth of July Sunday Extravaganza’, blah, blah, blah…..”
I used to buy into such carnival barking, until I realized that A/ it’s actually a weird state law that car dealers cannot be open on consecutive Saturdays and Sundays, and B/ car dealers themselves (through TADA) pushed for that law long ago because they didn’t want to compete head-to-head, all weekend, with the dealership on the corner across the street. I think payroll costs and the need for employees to get two days off a week also factored into it, but still. Getting the lege to cover their butts with such a law is a very real example of what you write, Wick.Â
Imagine grocery stores arguing for such a thing, or any other kind of business, for that matter.
