On the recordMarch 17, 1994
The Federal Government intervenes when it appears that at the local level they cannot handle these felonies. If there is violence on any labor picket line, obviously it can be a felony in any state court, and there has been absolutely no indication that state courts are not able to handle this. The issue here is in many places state courts have not been able to handle this, as we found in racial issues and as we have found in voting issues in some parts of the country. So what we have is, this bill does not preempt the state if they are able to deal with this. But what happens is it gives federal help, if they cannot enforce these national constitutional rights. We get our constitutional rights from being national citizens.
Source
govinfo.gov
