Why "Nullification" isn't real.
August 1, 2023
Every summer, there’s an excuse, I know. Now I’m moving.
It’s true. My family and I are moving to Asheville, North Carolina. If you are there, reach out! I am always looking for sheriffs to write about and places to write for.
Last week, I published a piece in Democracy Docket about the legalistic doctrine of “nullification,” which “constitutional sheriffs” claim allows them ignore gun restrictions. From my piece:
“Nullification” has been specifically rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1809, but persists as a far-right fairy tale, promising a way for local officials, when faced with changing demographics and a popular will that runs contrary to their own views, to subjugate residents to a vision of the U.S. Constitution rooted in white supremacy.
I argue that nullification is anti-democratic because it subverts majority will. We knows this because John C. Calhoun, famous pro-slavery South Carolinian, said so. From a great piece by Jamelle Bouie:
He [Calhoun] expanded on the theory at the end of his life, proposing an alternative system of government that gave political minorities a final say over majority action. In this “concurrent government,” each “interest or portion of the community” has an equal say in approving the actions of the state. Full agreement would be necessary to “put the government in motion.” Only through this, Calhoun argued, would the “different interests, orders, classes, or portions, into which the community may be divided, can be protected.”
I also published a story in Bolts about the new in-person polling place in the Dallas County Jail. Officials told me that it should continue for all future elections.
One thing that struck me while reporting this piece was the casual indifference election official expressed about in-jail voting. Take this email (not about Dallas County, but another Texas jail):
The idea that election officials aren’t taking voting rights seriousl — anyone’s voting rights — should trouble us all.
It's clear when you title an article "Sheriffs Undermine Democracy Through Nullification" - you have no understanding of American Law as provided by the United States Constitution. The United States is not ruled by mobs but by a representative government. Both the federal government and the States are lawfully Republics. Substituting the word Democracy in place of Republic is a deception. It begins your argument by assuming the form of government you intend to support using Bolshevik political rhetoric designed to mislead the public. You are undermining the American system of government and attempting to denigrate its defenders.