Nullification - How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century

What Is It?

State nullification is the idea that the states can and must refuse to
enforce unconstitutional federal laws.

Says Who?

Says Thomas Jefferson, among other distinguished Americans. His draft of
the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 first introduced the word .nullification.
into American political life, and follow-up resolutions in 1799 employed
Jefferson.s formulation that .nullification.is the rightful remedy. when
the federal government reaches beyond its constitutional powers. In the
Virginia Resolutions of 1798, James Madison said the states were .duty
bound to resist. when the federal government violated the Constitution.

But Jefferson didn.t invent the idea. Federalist supporters of the
Constitution at the Virginia ratifying convention of 1788 assured
Virginians that they would be .exonerated. should the federal government
attempt to impose .any supplementary condition. upon them . in other
words, if it tried to exercise a power over and above the ones the states
had delegated to it. Patrick Henry and later Jefferson himself elaborated
on these safeguards that Virginians had been assured of at their ratifying
convention.

Why Do We Need It?

As Jefferson warned, if the federal government is allowed to hold
a monopoly on determining the extent of its own powers, we have no right
to be surprised when it keeps discovering new ones. If the federal
government has the exclusive right to judge the extent of its own powers,
it will continue to grow . regardless of elections, the separation of
powers, and other much-touted limits on government power. In his famous
Report of 1800, James Madison reminded Virginians and Americans at large
that the judicial branch was not infallible, and that some remedy must be
found for those cases in which all three branches of the federal government
exceed their constitutional limits.

Isn.t This Ancient History?

Two dozen American states nullified the REAL ID Act of 2005. More than
a dozen states have successfully defied the federal government over medical
marijuana. Nullification initiatives of all kinds, involving the recent
health care legislation, cap and trade, and the Second Amendment are
popping up everywhere.

What.s more, we.ve tried everything else. Nothing seems able to stop
Leviathan.s relentless march. We need to have recourse to every mechanism
of defense Thomas Jefferson bequeathed to us, not just the ones that won.t
offend Katie Couric or MSNBC.

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