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Title: Nullification Put Into Perspective

Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/nullification-put-into-perspective|nullification-put-into-perspective]]

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Created: 2022-04-11 11:26:51

Updated: 2022-04-19 03:00:00

Published: 2022-04-12 03:00:00

Converted: 2025-04-14T21:16:40.139061648


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Over the years, I have listened to Montana state Senator Manzella and the John Birch Society repeatedly proclaim that no amendments are needed in our Constitution to address obvious problems like balancing the budget, or term limits on Congress. Instead, they profess that the process of nullification at the state level is all that is needed to solve the problems in Washington DC.\\
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Legitimate nullification is an opportunity that only presents itself when specific federal laws are passed, or federal executive actions are enacted that have a role for the state governments to play. No state role, then no ability to nullify. Illegitimate rogue-nullification like sanctuary cities is unconstitutional (more on this below).\\
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Federally funded, unconstitutional laws and executive decrees are difficult for states to nullify because typically there are federal funds attached. The Affordable Care Act is a prime example.  Despite the Supreme Court, and Justice Roberts rewriting the law to save it from being ruled unconstitutional, the states still had their opportunities to nullify the ACA. The accompanying federal funds, (especially in the early years) made it very, very difficult for states to initiate nullification in order to block deployment of the ACA. Montana’s legislature is as guilty of this shortsightedness as most other states.\\
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Structural/foundational changes such as a balanced federal budget or term limits on congress/judiciary/bureaucratic-state do not present themselves to the states in a form that is nullify-able.  \\
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When has the federal government ever presented to any state the 30 trillion-dollar national debt? The answer is, it doesn't and there is no requirement to do so. So, how can nullification address this? The answer is, it can't!

The same is true of term limits on Congress, a position that regularly polls over 80% positive nationwide. These foundational changes can only be addressed through constitutional amendments, proposed in one of the two fashions as written in Article V: “The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments”. \\
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Common sense and history have shown us that Congress will never limit its power in areas like a balanced budget or term limits. That leaves us with the 2nd proposal option, a Convention of States.\\
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The JBS and Manzella need a dose of reality, let's look at a recent event that happened to our southern neighbor Wyoming.\\
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In September of 2021, the Biden administration announced sweeping vaccine mandates. They said that these new mandates could affect around 100 million people, more than two-thirds of the US workforce. This mandate was authored by the Department of Labor via the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA was an attempt to give this mandate a hint of legitimacy. \\
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Wyoming called a special session of the legislature to push back on this unconstitutional executive order, and formalize their nullification of the mandate.\\
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Here are some important Wyoming background facts. Wyoming is a very conservative state. In the 2020 presidential election, their voters went 69.5% in favor of President Trump, and only 23% for Joe Biden, the largest percentage base spread of all 50 states! Their upper house has 28 Republicans and only 2 Democrats. Their lower house has 51 Republicans, 7 Democrats, 1 Independent, and 1 Libertarian. They have a republican Governor. Wyoming has a very strong Republican trifecta!\\
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After considerable effort during the special session, Wyoming came away with NO/ZERO passed nullification legislation! On an issue as immensely unpopular and unconstitutional as the OSHA Vaccine mandate, the most Republican and Conservative state in the nation failed. Remember, this special session dealt with no other business, it was exclusively to address nullifying the OSHA mandate.\\
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If Wyoming couldn't nullify this piece of low hanging fruit, what makes Manzella and the JBS think Montana could? Where is their historical track record that backs up any successful Montana nullification?  I respectfully ask Senator Manzella to explain why she thinks Montana can do what Wyoming couldn't with something as unconstitutional and unpopular as the OSHA Vaccine mandate?  \\
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Nullification of unconstitutional overreach is a tool that can and should be used when appropriate. However, the real success of rogue nullification is in the realm of unconstitutional Marxist progressiveness, i.e. sanctuary cities, or the gun law bans by inner cities like Chicago and New York. This type of nullification, while totally unconstitutional and lawless, has a much higher success record. Unless it gets directly challenged at the state or local judicial level, it seems to fly under the radar and become a cultural norm. \\
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The type of change encompassed by the Convention of States Project’s three tier platform can only be accomplished by Constitutional Amendments. There is a well-documented history of conventions of states/colonies going back well beyond the creation of our constitution. This is a successful and proven process.\\
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Last, consider our legislators. Based on my personal experience watching the legislature during the past 2 sessions, they have their plates full.  They are very hard-working, and put in long hours trying to pack in a wide array of bills in a very short time frame. Adding the responsibility of a constant nullification workload (as unrealistic as that is) to a part-time legislature is unrealistic. Again, JBS and Senator Manzella, show us your plan to pull this off. How do you respond in a timely manner to a nullification opportunity during the typically 18 months when they are out of session?\\
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The COS call for a convention of states would have a separate team called commissioners that are devoted to representing Montana. These commissioners are 100% accountable to the Montana Legislature. It will be reasonable to design an accountable-feedback loop to our legislature even during the 18 months when they are out of session.\\
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I respectfully ask the JBS and Senator Manzella, to document and publish their successful deployment of nullification. I am very interested.\\
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I have visited the JBS website and read their “Constitutional Mission” statement.  It states “Our mission is to bring about less government, more responsibility, and – with God’s help – a better world by providing leadership, education, and organized volunteer action in accordance with moral and Constitutional principles”. The JBS website also states “For over 60 years, The John Birch Society has been the force that protects and restores American liberty and independence”. \\
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If the JBS has been at this for over 60 years, and they have a mission to bring about less government, then how come Washington DC has been growing exponentially during this time period? Dear Senator Manzella, explain to me the “hockey stick” growth curve of the national debt since 2000. Explain to me how that nullification strategy is working for us?\\
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**Bottom line: we are in a multi-front war with our federal government.** The states can restore our constitutional federalist system engineered by our Founding Fathers. Nullification has a potential role to play, and we need to use it when appropriate, but to think it is a silver bullet that can fix the structural/foundational problems of the federal government is simply folly. Article V convention of states was put in our constitution to address these kinds of problems. Expecting DC to fix DC is also folly.\\
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Terry Kramer\\
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Clancy, MT\\
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PS: Wyoming Representative Chuck Gray gave a fascinating interview to Daniel Horowitz of the Blaze on the pitfalls and gotchas of what happened in this session. If you want to hear Rep Gray for yourself, listen to [[https://getpodcast.com/podcast/conservative-review-with-daniel-horowitz/ep-987-what-is-wrong-with-wyoming-guest-rep-chuck-gray_b0ee5b30ac|Daniel Horowitz EP 987 from 11/5/21.]]