One of the most fruitful and conclusive methods for establishing the meaning of the term “State” in the IRC is to trace the history of changes to the United States Codes, which occurred when Alaska and Hawaii were
admitted into the Union. It is instructive to illustrate these changes as they occurred in the IRC definitions of “State” found in the 1st code amendment effective on January 3, 1995, when Alaska was admitted into the Union:
IRC 7701 (a) (10) Amended 1954 Code Sec. 7701 (a) (10) by striking out “Territories”, and by substituting
“Territory of Hawaii”.
The 2nd Code amendment became effective on August 21, 1995, when Hawaii was admitted to the Union:
IRC 7701 (a) (10) Amended 1954 Code Sec. 7701 (a) (10) by striking out “the Territory of Hawaii and” immediately after the word “include”.
Applying these code changes in reverse order, we can reconstruct the IRC definitions of “State” as follows:
Time 1:
Alaska is a U.S. Territory
Hawaii is a U.S. Territory
7701 (a) (10): The term “State” shall be construed to include the Territories and the District of Colombia, where such construction is necessary to carry out the provisions of this title.
Alaska joins the Union. Strikeout “Territories” and substitute “Territory of Hawaii”:
Time
2:
Alaska is a State of the Union
Hawaii is a U.S. Territory
7701 (a) (10): The term “State” shall be construed to include the Territory of Hawaii and the District of Colombia, where such
construction is necessary to carry out the provisions of this title.
Hawaii joins the Union. Strikeout “the Territory of Hawaii and” immediately after the word “include”:
Time 3
Alaska is a State of the Union
Hawaii is a
State of the Union
7701 (a) (10): The term “State” shall be construed to include the District of Columbia, where such construction is necessary to carry out provisions of this title.
We can now properly and reasonably conclude that the term “State” now means only the District of Columbia (and no other), because the former Territories of Alaska and Hawaii have been admitted into the Union, Puerto Rico has been granted the status of a Commonwealth, and the Philippine Islands have been granted their independence.
Notice carefully how Alaska and Hawaii only fit these definitions of “State” before they joined the Union. It is most revealing that these Territories became States when they were admitted to the Union and yet the United States Codes had to be changed because of Alaska and Hawaii were defined in those Codes as “States” before the mission to the Union, but not
afterword. This apparent anomaly is perfectly clear, once the legal and deliberately misleading definitions of “State” is understood.
The government may raise an argument about “includes” using 26 USC 7621, which established their authority to operate outside of Washington DC.
26 USC 7621 (b): Boundaries. For the purpose mentioned in subsection (a), the President may subdivide any State or the District of Columbia, or may unite into one district 2 or more States.
A very serious constitutional issue is involved here: there is an absolute
constitutional prohibition against subdividing or joining any of the 50 states, or any part thereof, without the consent of Congress and of the legislatures of the states affected. This prohibition is very much like the one against direct taxes within the 50 states without apportionment:
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union;
but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as the Congress.
