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Thursday, April 4, 2013

Is Nullification Legal? (Idiots Might Be Surprised!)

No. No it is right the fuck not.

You honestly expected anything more elaborate or hedging? What's wrong with you?

Federal laws override state and local laws. That's a basic thing that keeps the country as a single functioning country and not just 50 squabbling state-nation-states. That is called the Supremacy Clause, and it is Article VI, Clause 2 of the US Constitution. Let's read:

"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding."

 Attempts at nullification are pretty much a direct assault on the Constitution and as a result never survive a Supreme Court hearing. Nullification got smacked down in 1796, 1816, 1819, 1821, 1859, 1920, 1956, 1982, 1989, 2000, and especially 1958, when the Court straight-up said states have to enforce federal law- in that case, desegregation- even if they disagree with it.

Oh, and don't forget that little war we had in which one side was in favor of nullification and one side wasn't. The pro-nullification side lost.

But I guess we have to go through this again.

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