Nullify: To make legally null and void; invalidate

Today I was at the Constitutional Literacy Institute hosted at Utah Valley University. Stephen Steinbach. He is an editor on the book With Liberty and Justice For All?

He spoke to us about nullification historically and in the present. He highlighted the nullification crisis during Jackson’s presidency. In the 1830s southern states resisted tariffs imposed on foreign goods. Southern states claimed these laws were unconstitutional.

Roughly two decades later The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed and states such as Wisconsin and Vermont passed legislation to nullify the law. He brought up the question of sanctuary cities nullifying federal immigration policies.

He noted the idea of states passing shield laws – where if an individual comes from an anti-abortion state and you help them your state will help you to not be prosecuted. Steinbach noted, “Texas may try to extradite a doctor in Massachusetts who gives counsel to someone in Texas on how to perform an abortion.”

The Cato Institute sums it up, “Imagine if state nullification were permitted. Chicago’s gun ban would still be in effect. Orval Faubus could have blocked Arkansas school integration. Virginia could bar interracial marriages. Texas might still be jailing gay people…. The federal government has the authority to enforce its own laws using its own law enforcement personnel. And individuals are not exempt from prosecution by the feds merely because the state or local area where they reside asserts that a law is unwise or even unconstitutional…. If a state, locality, or individual deems a federal law to be invalid, what redress is available? Because the courts have the last word, the proper remedy is a lawsuit challenging the suspect federal rule.”