Nullification: How it Should and Shouldn’t Be Used
Part I:What Nullification Should Not Be Nullification means many things to many people. Perhaps the most extreme version is when a state passes a law purporting to override a federal law. Last year, for example, Missouri nearly...
States Force Feds into a Game of Chicken and Win
Those dismissive of the possibility of nullification being an effective tool in fighting back against an overreaching federal government should take note of a recent move by the U.S. Justice Department. Last week Attorney General...
Utah’s Commission on Federalism Has Potential
The inaugural meeting of Utah’s Commission on Federalism was held last Tuesday, July 2nd, at the Capitol. The meeting offered a skeptic like me some hope of some real progress by the members of the commission, and in turn...
The Supremacy Clause: I do not think it means what you think it means
A recent editorial by the Salt Lake Tribune offers another example of a common misunderstanding of the U.S. Constitution’s “Supremacy Clause”. The editorial equates state nullification of federal law with...
Invitation to Governor Herbert regarding nullification
At a breakfast event last week hosted by GenX Capital, Governor Herbert was asked what he thought about using nullification to protect Utah from the unconstitutional overreaches of the federal government. I was not in attendance...
Reviving the “Principles of ’98”
Many people feel that there is no hope in standing up to a tyrannical federal government. This despair is understandable, but unproductive. We can find hope in the knowledge that many of the federal government’s creators...