Los Angeles announced a boycott of Arizona to try to punish Arizona for enacting a state immigration law that some believe might result in race-based harassment. Now some Arizona officials are beginning to consider retaliation, cutting of a quarter of Los Angeles’ electrical power that is produced in Arizona. Los Angeles officials respond with outrage and defiance, condemning any Arizona’s efforts to hurt L.A. But after L.A. announced an intention to “impact Arizona’s economy”, the basis upon which L.A. claims immunity from retaliation is unclear. When you openly declare economic war on a neighbor, you probably shouldn’t be surprised when they come back at you instead of meekly surrendering to your demands.
In short, it’s a mess. The entire purpose of the interstate commerce clause of the United States Constitution was to prevent states from using trade as weapons against one another. For those that object to the Arizona immigration law, there has to be a more appropriate means of expressing their outrage.