Soft secession
Soft secession describes states building parallel institutional and financial capacity that reduces their dependence on federal partnership and builds resilience against federal mismanagement and legal capture.
Legal scholar and journalist.
Founder of The Existentialist Republic.
He studies the powers state governments hold under their own constitutions to resist unlawful federal action.

The constitutional default. States administer federal programs in partnership with federal agencies.
A state declines to help federal enforcement and keeps state resources out of it.
A state builds parallel institutional and financial capacity that reduces its dependence on federal partnership.
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A state uses its sovereign powers offensively, including prosecuting federal officials under state law.
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A state refuses a federal demand that itself violates the Constitution.
Soft secession describes states building parallel institutional and financial capacity that reduces their dependence on federal partnership and builds resilience against federal mismanagement and legal capture.
Oppositional federalism is the offensive tier of state opposition, distinct from the defensive posture of non-cooperation.
A state can operate at different tiers in different policy areas at the same time. The full framework is set out in Oppositional Federalism: A Taxonomy of State Constitutional Postures Under Authoritarian Capture on SSRN.
How States Can Use the Constitution to Break Authoritarian Capture
View on AmazonA Field Guide to Dismantling American Fascism
View on AmazonArmitage is the founder and publisher of The Existentialist Republic, a civic affairs publication covering constitutional law, federalism, executive power, and government accountability.
Read on SubstackHis legal commentary has appeared in Verfassungsblog, a constitutional law journal where scholars document democratic backsliding worldwide, and in JURIST, the legal news service based at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. State Court Report, a project of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, published his analysis of the capacity-building powers states already hold.
He was born in Newark, New Jersey, and served in the United States Air Force, where he deployed twice to the Middle East as a security forces base defense operations controller and worked as a first responder, including regular shifts as a 911 operator. Before he turned to writing, he worked as a corrections officer and a military police officer. He writes about American institutions as someone who served inside them and watched them fail in real time.
Read the full biographyMedia and speaking inquiries
camus@theexistentialistrepublic.com