Nullification (U.S. Constitution)

Nullification, in United States constitutional history, is a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal laws which they deem unconstitutional with respect to the United States Constitution (as opposed to the state's own constitution). There are similar theories that any officer,[1] jury,[2] or individual[3] may do the same. The theory of state nullification has never been legally upheld by federal courts,[4] although jury nullification has.[2]

The theory of nullification is based on a view that the states formed the Union by an agreement (or "compact") among the states, and that as creators of the federal government, the states have the final authority to determine the limits of the power of that government. Under this, the compact theory, the states and not the federal courts are the ultimate interpreters of the extent of the federal government's power. Under this theory, the states therefore may reject, or nullify, federal laws that the states believe are beyond the federal government's constitutional powers. The related idea of interposition is a theory that a state has the right and the duty to "interpose" itself when the federal government enacts laws that the state believes to be unconstitutional. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison set forth the theories of nullification and interposition in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798.

Courts at the state and federal level, including the U.S. Supreme Court, repeatedly have rejected the theory of nullification.[5] The courts have decided that under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, federal law is superior to state law, and that under Article III of the Constitution, the federal judiciary has the final power to interpret the Constitution. Therefore, the power to make final decisions about the constitutionality of federal laws lies with the federal courts, not the states, and the states do not have the power to nullify federal laws.

Between 1798 and the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, several states threatened or attempted nullification of various federal laws. None of these efforts were legally upheld. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were rejected by the other states. The Supreme Court rejected nullification attempts in a series of decisions in the 19th century, including Ableman v. Booth, which rejected Wisconsin's attempt to nullify the Fugitive Slave Act. The Civil War ended most nullification efforts.

In the 1950s, southern states attempted to use nullification and interposition to prevent integration of their schools. These attempts failed when the Supreme Court again rejected nullification in Cooper v. Aaron, explicitly holding that the states may not nullify federal law.

  1. ^ Seward, William H. "Freedom in the New Territories (Appeal to a "Higher Law")". Senate.gov. U.S. Senate. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b Linder, Doug (2001). "Jury Nullification". University of Missouri-Kansas City. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  3. ^ Manshel, Hannah (2020). "William Apess and the Nullification of Settler Law". Early American Literature. 55 (3). University of North Carolina Press: 753–780. doi:10.1353/eal.2020.0063. JSTOR 26973807. S2CID 243370272. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  4. ^ "[S]tates throughout U.S. history have attempted to use variations of the nullification doctrine to invalidate national law. However, every attempt by states to nullify federal law was clearly rejected by not only the federal government but also by other states." Card, Ryan, "Can States 'Just Say No' to Federal Health Care Reform? The Constitutional and Political Implications of State Attempts to Nullify Federal Law", 2010 B.Y.U. Law Review 1795, 1808 (2010)
  5. ^ See Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1 (1958), Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board, 364 U.S. 500 (1960), Ableman v. Booth, 62 U.S. 506 (1859), and United States v. Peters, 9 U.S. (5 Cranch) 115 (1809), all of which are discussed below.