N.H. House to Vote on Nullification Resolution

How fitting, that on this Presidents’ Day, the New Hampshire House is preparing to vote on a resolution George Washington described “as measures systematically and pertinaciously pursued, which must eventually dissolve the union or produce coercion.”

Much of House Resolution 25 is lifted, verbatim, from a series of resolutions secretly written by Thomas Jefferson in 1798 and adopted by Kentucky and Virginia. The language explicitly asserts states have the right to declare federal laws unconstitutional and void.

where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right … to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them…

For the record, the courts have repeatedly found that under the Constitution, federal law is superior to state law; the Constitution gives federal courts the power to interpret the Constitution; and states do not have the power to nullify federal law. The Civil War ended most nullification efforts — or so we thought.

HR 25 is sponsored by self-proclaimed Constitutional expert and nullification proponent Rep. Dan Itse. It was approved by the House State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee in an 8-2 vote and is on the House calendar for Wednesday’s session.

NH House Too Extreme for Gingrich and Union Leader

Last week, the New Hampshire House passed HCR 19, a Tea Party-backed resolution asserting the state’s authority to nullify federal laws it deems unconstitutional. Yesterday, the bill that 242 New Hampshire state reps supported was disavowed by Newt Gingrich and a Union Leader editorial.

Newt Gingrich:

“I think Andrew Jackson dealt with that” during the nullification crisis, he said, adding that Lincoln dealt with it in a more profound way a few decades later.

State politicians who think the federal government is acting unconstitutionally can sue the federal government or direct their delegation in Washington to oppose the unconstitutional actions, he said.

“It would strike me as very implausible that states could actually nullify,” he said.

Union Leader:

[T]hey are wrong that the State of New Hampshire can simply declare those actions null and void. If states had that authority, the union would collapse, as every state nullified whatever federal laws it disliked. This question was settled in the 19th century. It should remain there.