A bit of history: "States' Rights" advocates specifically were advocating "States' rights to enforce chattel slavery". The Fugitive Slave Act is a wild usurpation of States' Rights, but the slavers (who have become the modern Repulican party) didn't mind.

"They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past."