The 10th Amendment Nullification Movement
Tenth
Amendment Center
Recently
by Michael Boldin: With
or Without Federal 'Permission'
“If the federal
government has the exclusive right to judge the extent of its own
powers, warned the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions’ authors
(Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, respectively), it will continue
to grow – regardless of elections, the separation of powers,
and other much-touted limits on government power.”
~ Thomas E. Woods
The
10th Amendment Movement is an effort to push back
against unconstitutional federal laws and regulations on a state
level. The principle is known as "nullification," and was advised
by many prominent founders.
Current Nullification
Efforts:
Potential
Future Efforts:
- Health Care Nullification
- Patriot Act
- No Child Left Behind
- State-Initiated
Constitutional Amendments
History of
Nullification: While the media generally portrays nullification
as being solely aligned with the efforts of the nullifiers of
the South and the Civil War, this is certainly false, and reeks
of misinformation. Nullification has a long history in the American
tradition and has been invoked in support of free speech, in opposition
to war and fugitive slave laws, and more. Read more on this history
here.
10th
Amendment Resolutions
These non-binding resolutions, often called "state sovereignty
resolutions" do no carry the force of law. Instead, they are intended
to be a statement of the legislature of the state. They play an
important role, however. If you owned an apartment building and
had a tenant not paying rent, you wouldn't show up with an empty
truck to kick them out without first serving notice. That's how
we view these Resolutions – as serving "notice and demand" to
the Federal Government to "cease and desist any and all activities
outside the scope of their constitutionally-delegated powers."
Follow-up, of course, is a must.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT 10TH AMENDMENT RESOLUTIONS
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10th
Amendment Bills
Unlike the many 10th Amendment Resolutions that have been introduced
around the country since 2008, these "10th Amendment" or "State
Sovereignty" bills are proposals for binding legislation. They include
language to affirm the sovereignty of the people of the state and
to create a commission or a committee to review the Constitutionality
of acts emanating from the federal government.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT 10TH AMENDMENT BILLS
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Firearms
Freedom Act
Originally introduced and passed in Montana, the FFA declares that
any firearms made and retained in-state are beyond the authority
of Congress under its constitutional power to regulate commerce
among the states. The FFA is primarily a Tenth Amendment challenge
to the powers of Congress under the "commerce clause,"
with firearms as the object. (source, FirearmsFreedomAct.com)
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT FIREARMS FREEDOM ACT LEGISLATION
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Medical
Marijuana Laws
An honest reading of the Constitution with an original understanding
of the Founders and Ratifiers makes it quite clear that the federal
government has no constitutional authority to override state laws
on marijuana. All three branches of the federal government, however,
have interpreted (and re-interpreted) the commerce clause of the
Constitution to authorize them to engage in this activity, even
though there's supposedly no "legal" commerce in the plant. At best,
these arguments are dubious; at worst an intentional attack on the
Constitution and your liberty.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT STATE MARIJUANA LAWS
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REAL
ID Act
Led by Maine in early 2007, 25 states over the past 2 years have
passed resolutions and binding laws denouncing and refusing the
implement the Bush-era law which many expressed concerns about privacy,
funding and more. While the law is still on the books in D.C., its
implementation has been "delayed" numerous times in response to
this massive state resistance, and in practice, is virtually null
and void.
CLICK
HERE FOR ANTI-REAL ID LEGISLATION
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Health
Care Freedom Act
The Health Care Freedom Act is considered in states as either a
bill or a state constitutional amendment – effectively prohibiting
the enactment of any new government-run healthcare programs within
the state.
While many of the bills have language similar to true nullification
legislation, many of them are promoted solely as a vehicle to drive
a federal court battle – which is not nullification in its true
sense.
CLICK
HERE FOR HEALTH CARE FREEDOM ACT TRACKING
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Bring
the Guard Home
Under the Constitution, the militia (now called the National Guard)
may only be called into duty by the federal government in three
specific situations. According to Article I, Section 8; Clause 15,
the Congress is given the power to pass laws for "calling forth
the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections
and repel Invasions." The militia was intended by the Founders and
Ratifiers to be defense force and nothing more. Deployments outside
the country were not considered, and neither were internal deployments
in pursuance of powers that were not delegated to the federal government.
Congress has passed numerous laws in the past 100 years giving the
federal government additional authority not mentioned in the Constitution.
But, without amendment, altering the enumerated powers by legislative
fiat is, in and of itself, unconstitutional. Campaigns in states
around the country are working to reassert the authority of governors
over guard troops.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT BRING THE GUARD HOME LEGISLATION
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Constitutional
Tender
The United States Constitution declares, in Article I, Section 10,
"No State shall... make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender
in Payment of Debts." Constitutional Tender laws seek to nullify
federal legal tender laws in the state by authorizing payment in
gold and silver or a paper note backed 100% by gold or silver,
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT CONSTITUTIONAL TENDER LEGISLATION
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Cap
and Trade
Cap and Trade is often claimed to be authorized under the Commerce
Clause of the Constitution. At best, this is a highly dubious claim.
This interstate regulation of "commerce" did not include
agriculture, manufacturing, mining, or land use. Nor did it include
activities that merely "substantially affected" commerce.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT CAP AND TRADE NULLIFICATION LEGISLATION
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State
Sovereignty and Federal Tax Funds Act
Such laws would require that all federal taxes come first to the
state's Department of Revenue. A panel of legislators would assay
the Constitutional appropriateness of the Federal Budget, and then
forward to the federal government a percentage of the federal tax
dollars that are delineated as legal and Constitutionally-justified.
The remainder of those dollars would be assigned to budgetary items
that are currently funded through federal allocations and grants
or returned to the people of the state.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT FEDERAL TAX FUNDS LEGISLATION
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Sheriffs
First Legislation
A "Sheriffs First" bill would make it a state crime for any federal
agent to make an arrest, search, or seizure within the state without
first getting the advanced, written permission of the elected county
sheriff of the county in which the event is to take place.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT SHERIFFS FIRST LEGISLATION
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Federal
Gun Laws Nullification
As codified in law with the 2nd Amendment, the People did not delegate
the power to regulate or control the ownership of firearms to the
federal government. And, as the 10th Amendment makes clear, all
powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the
States or to the People themselves.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT FEDERAL GUN LAWS NULLIFICATION LEGISLATION
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Nullification
of Federal Intrastate Commerce Regulation
As understood at the time of the founding, the regulation of commerce
was meant to empower Congress to regulate the buying and selling
of products made by others (and sometimes land), associated finance
and financial instruments, and navigation and other carriage, across
state jurisdictional lines. These bills attempt to reassert this
original meaning of the commerce clause over wide areas of policy
and effectively nullify federal laws and regulations that violate
such limitations by regulating commerce and other activities that
are solely intrastate.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT INTRASTATE COMMERCE REGULATION NULLIFICATION LEGISLATION
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This is
reprinted from the Tenth
Amendment Center.
October
9, 2010
Copyright
© 2010 Tenth Amendment
Center. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly
granted, provided full credit is given.
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