Nowadays American insurrections are an-nounced not by thundering cannon, as in Charleston harbor 134 years ago, but by the soft rustle of legal briefs. One such, from Sacramento, announces arenewed argument about constitutional modalities. By challenging the constitutionality of the "motor voter" law, and by implication of "unfunded mandates" generally, California's Republican Gov. Pete Wilson has stolen the march on the Republican Congress. He has given sharp focus to today's counterrevolution against the disruption of constitutional balance. His challenge kindles memories of earlier acts of resistance, acts associated with names such as Jefferson, Madison, Jackson and Calhoun.
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