Indiana Republicans Split Over Challenging Federal Power

It's the old establishment against the young turks

D.K. Smith, a leader of the tea party group FreedomMaker Coalition of Indiana, expected that with Republican supermajorities controlling both the Indiana Senate and House, this would be the right time to pass legislation nullifying federal health-care reforms.

Sue Lile, co-founder of the Constitutional Patriots, expected that at the very least, Indiana lawmakers would debate legislation to let the state reject any federal law it deems unconstitutional.

And her husband, Dwight Lile, was hoping for hearings in the General Assembly on bills to reject a United Nations environmental initiative which he and others see as a threat to property rights.

Instead, those and a handful of other bills aimed at asserting Indiana's sovereignty in a variety of ways are languishing with no likelihood of getting a hearing, much less a vote.