Molon Labe

Nullification

In 1798 Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wrestled with the question that we are faced with today; "What happens when the federal government oversteps its constitutional authority?"  In the Kentucky Resolutions Jefferson put forth the concept of nullification, the act of the states to undo legislation by the federal government that the federal government did not have the constitutional authority to pass.   Jefferson postulated that since the states formed the federal government  and ratified the constitution then it followed that the states, not the federal government (nor, as was  later usurped by the  Marshall court, the judiciary), were the ultimate arbiters of constitutionality and especially as to the constitutionality of acts of the federal government not specifically granted to the federal government under Article I Section 8 of the Constitution and that the states had the authority, under the Tenth Amendment, to tell the federal government  "No".  

Madison, commonly accepted as the father of the Constitution, in the Virginia Resolution exerted that the only way the union would survive is for the states to watch over the federal government and assure that it exercises only the powers assigned to it and agreed upon in the Constitution.

Today, under what can only be described as the most anti-America regime in our history, we are witness to the most egregious overreaches of the federal government, overreaches which not only threaten the constitution but also the entire existence of the republic. 

Obama, Holder, the liberal leftist in state and federal legislatures, the supreme court, and certain governors’ offices can say anything they want; they can issued any “executive order”, they can pass any acts and laws they want, and issue any opinions they want but the secret they know and hope you, as “the people”, never find out and act on is that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and that any act, law, opinion, or "executive order" that conflicts with anything  in the constitution is unlawful and is, by the nature of their being unlawful, null and void; no citizen is lawfully nor morally obligated to obey them, no law enforcement officer is lawfully nor morally obligated to enforce them, no court is lawfully nor morally obligated to adjudicate them, and no jury is lawfully nor morally obligated to pass judgment on offenses against them;  in fact all have a legal and moral obligation, as Jefferson has said,  to nullify them!

In our time no less a legal authority than the encyclopedia of United States law, the American Jurisprudence, in Volume 16 of the second edition, Section 177 (the later edition you will find this information in section 256) asserts:

"The general misconception is that any statute passed by legislators bearing the appearance of law constitutes the law of the land.  The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and any statute, to be valid, must be In agreement.  It is impossible for both the Constitution and a law violating it to be valid; one must prevail.  This is succinctly stated as follows:

The General rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it.  An unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed.  Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted.

Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principles follow that it imposes no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection, and justifies no acts performed under it....

A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one.  An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing valid law.  Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the land, it is superseded thereby.

No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it."

How then do the states tell the federal government "No!"?  The process is easily established; if the federal government passes legislation outside the 19 delineated powers granted to it or which conflicts with anything in the constitution then a state legislature draws up a resolution addressing the legislation and delineates the reasons for its nullification, it  then proceeds to passes it.  The nullification legislation is then presented to the governor of the state for signature which, once signed, declares that the unconstitutional federal legislation does not apply within that state and is thus nullified.  

Until the people and the state legislatures understand and embrace the concept of nullification the central government will continue the usurpation of unintended powers until the ultimate goal of the left is achieved, the nullification of the constitution itself and with its nullification the extinguishing of the flame of liberty in this nation.