NULLIFICATION ACT

Researched and prepared by The United States Patriots Union, LLC

The Constitutional Justice Division,

1617 North Main Street, Suite B, Sheridan, WY 82801

Jan. 12, 2011

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REFERENCE TITLE: ________________________

STATE OF _________________________________

__________________________________Legislature

_____________________________________Session

2011

#______________________:____________________

Introduced by: ______________________________

AN ACT

AN ACT PROHIBITING INFRINGEMENT OF THE STATE OF ________________

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO NULLIFICATION OF ANY FEDERAL LEGISLATION DEEMED UNCONSTITUTIONAL BY THE STATE.

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WHEREAS, the State of ______________ has a compelling interest as a sovereign state of the United States of America in the proper implementation of protection and justice within its borders, and it shall be enacted by the Legislature of the State of __________:

Section 1. Short title. [Sections 1 through 6] may be cited as the “________________ Nullification Reaffirmation Act".

Section 2. Legislative declarations of authority. The legislature declares that the authority for [sections 1 through 10] is the following:

(1) The tenth amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees and reserves to the states and the people all powers not specifically granted to the federal government elsewhere in the Constitution as they were publicly understood at the time that the amendment was ratified on December 15, 1791, subject only to modification by duly ratified subsequent amendments to the United States Constitution. The guarantee of those powers is a matter of compact between the state and people of _________ and the United States as of the time that _________ was admitted to statehood in __________________.

(2) In accordance with the compact between the state and people of __________ and the United States as of the time that __________ was admitted to statehood in ________________, the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees to the state and people of __________ that other than the enumerated powers expressly granted to the United States under Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, Congress and the federal government will not exercise any purported additional control over or commandeer rights belonging to the State of ___________, or its people.

(3) The United States Constitution ratified on June 21, 1788, established that the sole and sovereign power to regulate the state business and affairs rested in the state legislature and has always been a compelling state concern and central to state sovereignty.   Accordingly, the foregoing public meaning and understanding of Article 1 Section 8, the Establishment clause of the First Amendment and the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution is a matter of compact between the state and people of _________ and the United States as of the time that ____________ was admitted to statehood in ________________. Further, the power to regulate commerce among the several states as delegated to the Congress in Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution, as understood at the time of the founding, 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. This power to regulate “commerce” does not include agriculture, manufacturing, mining, major crimes, or land use. Nor does it include activities that merely “substantially affect” commerce.

(4) At the time the United States Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788, the Commerce Clause was not meant or understood to authorize Congress or the Federal Judiciary to regulate the state courts in the matter of state substantive law or state judicial procedure.  This meaning and understanding of Article 1 Section 8, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, as they pertain to the validity of religious sectarian or foreign law as being controlling or influential precedent has never been modified by any duly ratified amendment to the United States Constitution.  Accordingly, the foregoing public meaning and understanding of Article 1 Section 8 and the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution is a matter of compact between the state and people of _________and the United States as of the time that ____________ was admitted to statehood in ______________. 

Further, Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 of the Constitution, the “necessary and proper clause,” is not a blank check that empowers the federal government to do anything it deems necessary or proper. It is instead a limitation of power under the common-law doctrine of “principals and incidents,” which restricts the power of Congress to exercise incidental powers. There are two (2) main conditions required for something to be incidental, and therefore, “necessary and proper.” The law or power exercised must be 1) directly applicable to the main, enumerated power (some would say that without it, the enumerated power would be impossible to exercise in current, common understanding), and 2) it must be “lesser” than the main power.

(5) In accordance with Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution ratified on June 21, 1788, the “general welfare clause,” does not empower the federal government with the ability to do anything it deems good. It is instead a general restriction limiting the exercise of the enumerated powers of Congress set forth in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States, requiring that congress only enact laws which serve all citizens well and equally. When James Madison was asked if this clause were a grant of power, he replied with “If not only the means but the objects are unlimited, the parchment [the Constitution] should be thrown into the fire at once.” Thus, this clause is a limitation on the power of the federal government to act in the welfare of all when passing laws in pursuance of the powers delegated to the United States. Likewise, the Commerce Clause was not meant or understood to authorize Congress or the Federal Judiciary to establish religious sectarian or foreign statute or case law as controlling or influential precedent. Accordingly, the foregoing public meaning and understanding of Article 1 Section 8, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution is a matter of compact between the state and people of ___________ and the United States as of the time that ___________ was admitted to statehood in ____________________.

6) We acknowledge that the “Commerce Clause”, the “General Welfare Clause”, and the “Necessary and Proper Clause” of the United States Constitution were amended, and made more specific and limiting at the peoples’ insistence… through the creation of the Bill of Rights, i.e. the 2nd Amendment, the 9th Amendment and the 10th Amendment. All Amendments within the Bill of Rights were for the purpose of further restricting federal powers, vesting and/or retaining the ultimate power and control of the states and the people within the states. Therefore, we specifically reject and deny any federal claim of expanded and/or additional authority which the federal government may from time to time attempt to exert, exercise or enforce.

Further, the people of the State of ____________________, are aware that the federal government has amended and altered the spirit and the meaning of The Commerce Clause, all without proper legislative authority through amendment. Therefore, we reject and deny this unauthorized and excessive abuse of power which has primarily acted as a detriment to states’ rights and individual rights.

7) In accordance with the U.S. Constitution, Congress and the federal government is denied the power to establish laws within the state which are repugnant and obtrusive to the U.S. Constitution, the State Constitution, state law and the citizens of the state. The Federal Government is restrained and confined in authority by the eighteen (18) items as set forth in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution.

8) Congress and the federal government is hereby denied the power to bind the states under foreign statute or case law other than those provisions duly ratified by the Congress as a treaty, so long as the treaty does not violate the state or United States Constitution.

9) Further, no authority has ever been given to the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, or the Judicial Branch, of the federal government, to preempt state legislation.

10) This Act shall serve as a Notice and Demand to the Federal Government to cease and desist any and all activities outside the scope of their constitutionally-

designated powers.

11) The Legislature shall establish and/or appoint a Commission of Recommendation, consisting of ____ members, which shall be charged to recommend, propose and call for an “up or down vote by simple majority” to nullify in its entirety, a specific federal law and/or regulation which is deemed to be outside the scope of the powers delegated by the People to the federal government in the United States Constitution, or at odds with the Constitution of the state. The Commission shall respond with their recommendation(s) within thirty (30) days of receiving said federal legislation for consideration and process.

Further, the Commission of Recommendation shall have the power to reach back and take up or review any and all existing federal statutes, mandates and Executive orders for the purpose of determining the constitutionality thereof, and said Commission may recommend existing federal statutes, mandates and Executive orders put in place prior to the passage of this bill, for nullification.

Upon recommendation for nullification, the state legislature must take an up or down vote to nullify within sixty (60) days following said recommendation, during which time, the issue in question shall remain out of force or effect until such vote can be taken. The appropriate documentation reflecting the vote shall be documented in the State Register.

In the event that the state legislature votes by simple majority to nullify any federal statute, mandate or Executive order on the grounds of constitutionality, the state, nor its citizens, shall recognize or be obligated to live under said statute, mandate or Executive order.

This Commission shall further be charged to communicate the intentions of this Act to the legislatures of the several states to assure that this State continues in the same esteem and friendship as currently exists, and, that it considers union for specific national purposes, and particularly those enumerated in the Constitution of the United States, to be friendly to the peace, happiness and prosperity of all the states.

When this Act has been enacted, a certified copy of the same shall be sent to the President of the United States, the President of the Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representatives, each member of the States’ Congressional delegation, with the request that this Act be officially entered into the Congressional Record.

12) It shall be the duty of the legislature of this State to adopt and enact any and all measures that may become necessary to prevent the wrongful enforcement of any federal laws or regulations duly nullified within the boundaries and limits of this State.

13) In accordance with Article 3, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which states -  In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction, in any cause of action between this State and the federal government regarding state nullification of a federal legislation, judicial mandate or executive order, the proper jurisdiction for these disputes will lie with the Supreme Court of the United States alone. In the event of improper adjudication, the People’s interest shall be maintained and retained through State referendum.

14) Under the tenth amendment, the people and state of __________ retain their exclusive power to regulate the state of ____________, subject only to the fourteenth amendment’s guarantee, that the people and state of ____________ shall exercise such sovereign power in accordance with each citizen’s lawful privileges or immunities, and in compliance with the requirements of due process and equal protection of the law.

15) Whereas the ninth amendment to the United States Constitution secures and reserves to the people of ______________, as against the federal government, their natural rights to life, liberty and property as entailed by the traditional Anglo-American conception of ordered liberty and as secured by state law, including, but not limited to, their rights as they were understood and secured by the law at the time that the amendment was ratified on December 15, 1791, as well as their rights as they were understood and secured by the law in the state of __________ at the time the ____________ constitution was adopted on _____________________, the people and state hereby proclaim that the guarantee of those rights is a matter of compact between the state and people of _______________ and the United States as of the time that _______________ was admitted to statehood in ________________.

Researched and prepared by The United States Patriots Union, LLC

The Constitutional Justice Division

1617 North Main Street, Suite B, Sheridan, WY 82801

www.PatriotsUnion.org

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