Up next in 10
Nullification Commission proposal
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Jun 5, 2025
How Nullification Commission might reduce problem. Austin Constitution meetup Feb. 22, 2010, Part 4 of 4. For more see http://constitution.org
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0:03
our nullification commission
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proposal
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has
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been discussed a lot lately
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and the question naturally arises
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whether
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it would work
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for
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dealing with this kind of abuse or that
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kind of abuse
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it soon becomes clear
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that state nullification is only
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applicable
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to certain kinds of usurpations
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generally broad kinds that require
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cooperation
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of state officials or local citizens
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there are many things federal officials
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and agents can do to people
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that don't go before a judge or a jury
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let's examine the federal action review
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commission proposal
1:00
to understand this
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first
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the
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component of the
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commission
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is to be
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the powers of a grand jury
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to meet continually continuously
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with rotating memberships drawn
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from a pool of legal historians and
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constitutional scholars
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appointed by the governor attorney
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general or legislative council
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empowered to review
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the constitutionality
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of congressional legislation
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or federal regulations or decisions
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and we find such legislation
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regulations or decisions to be
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unconstitutional
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to issue an edict with the force of law
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requiring that no state or local
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officials
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employees or contractors
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cooperating the enforcement of it
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and urging state citizens to refuse to
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cooperate
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this commission would be established by
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an amendment to the texas constitution
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now
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you'll notice that some things are not
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included in this
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it is not
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tasked with review of
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federal court decisions
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it was felt that
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the attack needs to be on the underlying
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statutes or regulations
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because if you start challenging
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federal court decisions
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then
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you may create a situation that
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would lead to conflict
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and what we're trying to do is to
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pull the nails
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out of the
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edifice of usurpation
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but to do so carefully
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choosing our battles
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and going after
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legislative or regulatory acts rather
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than court decisions
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court decisions have to be gone after as
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well
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but realistically the only way to do
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that
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is by constitutional amendments
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the structure and procedure
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of the review commission
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is that it has 23 members
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which is the proper size for a grand
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jury
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they serve for staggered terms of four
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to eight months
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that means that some would serve for
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four months some for six months some for
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eight months
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and then they'd rotate
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they'd be drawn at random
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from a pool
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of at least
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230 constitutional scholars and legal
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historians
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a larger number if possible but
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we'd have trouble finding that many
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in the state of texas
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now some have asked what is a
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constitutional scholar or legal
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historian
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the standard i would use would be
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someone who has written at least one
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book
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or professional
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paper
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in the field
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that's peer-reviewed
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or
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published by a major publisher
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it's too difficult to try to define
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these standards
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in
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this proposal at this point
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but
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we'll be getting later
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in the discussion not in today's
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presentation
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into how
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we might define who
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the qualified people would be
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they would meet at least one hour
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once a week
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they have a quorum of 16
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and a vote of 12 would require be
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required to issue an edict
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based on presumption of non-authority of
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federal officials and agents
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and requires strict proof
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of constitutionality
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from inductive logic and historical
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evidence
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it shall be open to direct complaints of
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the const unconstitutionality
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of federal actions from any citizen
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it shall have the power to subpoena
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witnesses
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and its deliberations shall be secret
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except that they may disclose anything
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in his presence
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it may authorize criminal
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prosecution
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by issuing an indictment to any person
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not necessarily a lawyer
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upon a finding that the court cited
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as jurisdiction
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and and that evidence of guilt is
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sufficient for trial
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now you'll notice here with that what
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i'm bringing into this
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is the option of private
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criminal prosecutions
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it is currently not encouraged
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under the law of most states
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it is allowed for
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in texas law
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although it has certainly been
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discouraged in recent decades by judges
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so
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this is part of what is trying to do
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is to revive
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private prosecutions
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now the prosecutor may be a lawyer
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believe
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should not necessarily be
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because
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lawyers are generally under the thumb
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of the judges
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and would not be sufficiently
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independent
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to
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conduct many of these kinds of
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prosecutions
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so we need to have a way of bringing in
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non-lawyers
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in order to intervene
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in the system
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at appropriate points
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there need to be penalties
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there's a general rule in law that if
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there's no penalty it's not really a law
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it's just aspiration
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state and local officials employees and
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contractors
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should be notified in writing as such
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eatings within 10 days
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they'll have 20 days to comply
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or be subject to termination
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after one written warning
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and a second failure to refuse to
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cooperate with federal officials and
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agents
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that means that you can fire
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people or terminate contracts
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if people continue to cooperate
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with
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the feds
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they have to decide
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where their loyalties lie
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it will either be with the state
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or with the federal government
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they can't have it both ways
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and this could create a problem
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for a lot of law enforcement agents that
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are taking money from the federal
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government
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and thus
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dividing their loyalties between
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the state
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and the feds
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now the question has arisen
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what happens to for civilians
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if they can
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go along
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with this
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nullification commission
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and are prosecuted anyway
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it is a
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uh the court precedent
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massachusetts v melon
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from 1923
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that held that a state
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may not go to court
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representing
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its citizens
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to defend their rights
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that's a ancient doctrine of
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parents patriarch
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where the government can represent the
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rights of its citizens and the supreme
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court said he can't do that
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so the state can't actually go to court
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to defend
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its citizens to get into trouble
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but they can pay for lawyers for them
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they can do everything short of actually
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representing them in court
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they could for example guarantee them a
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job
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they can pay their mortgages
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their medical bills
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put their kids through school
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he can do all the things necessary to
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make sure that
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the only thing that the citizen will
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suffer
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is being locked away for a while
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but that when he comes back
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all he will have lost his time
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and
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nothing else
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that's the
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system that i want to try to establish
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and and of course the state can
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intervene
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file briefs
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and do all kind of the other things that
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are necessary to try to defend his
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position
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so that concludes our presentation this
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evening
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