Nullification: The States Have a Nuclear Option, Too

Remember Real ID? There’s a good reason that even though Congress passed the law in 2005 it has not been implemented by most states. It’s called nullification.

When they aren’t begging for federal handouts, state governors and legislators have the ability to enforce the limitations on federal power enumerated by the Constitution. Unfortunately, they usually are begging for handouts and so lack the spine or the motivation to stand up to Washington.

That’s where liberty activists and their pressure campaigns at the state level must come in.

From a recent article at the TenthAmendmentCenter.com:

If and when President Obama forces through his health care bill, it could trigger a backlash already simmering at the state level that neither he nor his colleagues in Congress seem to have seriously contemplated: A popular push for state level nullification.

Already, state legislators from Arizona to Florida to Georgia have proposed measures to nullify unconstitutional aspects of any federal health care law. Which, in all likelihood, would mean pretty much the entirety of H.R. 3200. But even more intriguing is the precedent a nullification fight would set and the confidence it would build for those in the liberty movement.

For years Americans have watched helplessly while the Supreme Court sat as binding arbiter in constitutional disagreements, essentially permitting the federal government to dictate the limits of its own power. And, predictably, the limits on that power have been few.

But once citizens understand that they can circumvent a power-hungry Congress and its enablers on the court by demanding their state governments step up and nullify unconstitutional laws, entrenched abuses of every sort could come crashing down.

Of course, even though activists on the left supported nullification for Real ID and also for medical marijuana, those calling for state sovereignty with regard to health care will have to deal with the standard cries of racism and references to the Jim Crow South. But just because nullification was used in the past to deny rights to certain groups doesn’t mean it can’t be used to regain our rights today.

In the end, “for desperate people whose freedoms are being systematically usurped by all three federal branches and both political parties, nullification may be the key to restoring our republic.”