On Nullification
John Minehan printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Fri Jun 21, 2013 at 09:23:23 PM EST
At the time his book, Nullification, appeared in 2010, I contacted author Thomas Woods, Jr., Ph.D. about the book.  Woods is as gracious as he is educated and he took the time to answer my questions in detail.  While Dr. Woods is a brilliant man, he is not a practicing lawyer and he did not see how ineffective nullification is as a legal theory.  

Given a Federal judicial system, a system of Federal prosecutors and Federal peace officers (as early as the 1790s including Federal Marshalls and customs officials and now including the FBI, ATF, DEA, SEC, IRS, Treasury and other agencies with enforcement arms) it is (and essentially always has been) impossible for a state to nullify a Federal law in the sense of preventing its enforcement.

Further, while Woods is absolutely correct in saying that an unconstitutional Federal law does NOT constitute the "supreme law of the land" under the Supremacy Clause ("This Constitution,and the Laws of the United States WHICH SHALL BE NADE IN PURSUENCE 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." [EMPHASIS added]) nullification would seem to contradict the intent