Nullification (not secession) in Arizona

I’m a little behind on posting here, but it’s never too late to criticize.

In a blog post last week, E.J. Montini wrongly misinterpreted intent and history of a recently filed application for citizens initiative in Arizona relating to nullification of federal law.

Montini writes:

According to the Arizona Capitol Times a group of citizens is trying to do what the Legislature has tried and failed to do not so long ago – secede from the union.

A reading of the initiative as filed reveals that Montini is sensationalizing the scope of the initiative, and/or is entirely unclear of the states rights notion of nullification, as opposed to secession.

The initiative clearly affirms the right of the State of Arizona to reject any federal law deemed unconstitutional.  It is clearly not a call for the State of Arizona to secede from the Union should it deem a law unconstituional

The doctrine of nullification invoked in this initiative has a long and valid history.  Our Founders and those instrumental in the authoring of the US Constitution supported the notion of states nullifying federal law as an important check on federal power.  The concept was discussed and supported as a necessary factor for ratifying the US Constitution in the 1788 Virginia ratifying convention.  Thomas Jefferson introduced the term “nullification” in the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798.

Far from the radical notion of secession, nullification, although mostly forgotten, is a critical check on federal power, and could act as such today.

Montini’s lumping nullification into the more radical notion of secession, and his mockery of it , demonstrate his disregard for history, and his inability to accept the idea that anyone besides our wise federal overlords can possibly govern.  In Montini’s mind, dissent at the state level violates the status of ordinary citizens as chattel of our federal masters, and is thus worthy of mockery.

Tom Woods, a best selling author and a far smarter and more studied historian and scholar that Montini might ever dream of becoming, has written extensively on the doctrine of nullification.