Nullification’s last dance may yield surprising verdict

Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has vowed to mobilize 50,000 residents and police in direct confrontation with federal agents. He compares President-elect Donald Trump’s mandate to end “deadly sanctuary cities,” as a “Tiananmen Square movement.”

A “Tiananmen Square movement?” For those who don’t remember, nearly 4,000 mostly Chinese students, women, and children were gunned down in cold blood by police when asking for basic human rights. Initially, Beijing reported a “few violent protesters.” Then it became “several hundred malcontents, mostly counter-revolutionaries.” The final casualty count was ugly.

Mayor Johnston’s comparison of Trump’s mandate to a 1980’s bloodbath expedited by China’s communist regime against peaceful protesters is reprehensible! It’s akin to calling Hitler and Mussolini’s “Rome-Berlin Axis” as the “Coalition for World Peace.”

Denver Mayor Accused Of Threatening Civil War To Protect Illegal Aliens [WATCH]

Nullification’s History in the United States

This isn’t the first time in American history that a state or city declared itself exempt from federal law. “Eighty-somethings” may still recall Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus ordering the state militia to block black students’ entry into Little Rock Central High School. That effort was decisively quelled by then-Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Faubus, a Democrat, vowed that the decision was about “states’ rights,” referencing the 10th Amendment. That “segregation violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause” was the counterargument made. Federal law prevailed.

Going further back, South Carolina threatened secession to nullify proposed protective tariffs spearheaded by Northern industrialists. South Carolina statesman and former Vice President, John C. Calhoun called the tariffs “abusive and without credence.” The 1832 “Nullification crisis” was temporarily settled, but later reappeared as the primary argument used by the South to justify secession.

In many ways, the question was never settled, only delayed. While the subject is different, the two positions remain the same. Should a city or a state be allowed to opt out of a federal mandate? Perhaps the Preamble to the Constitution holds the decisive clue.

The Preamble to the Constitution states that it is within federal authority to “provide for the common defense.” Legal scholars mostly agree that the “common defense” refers to the United States’ borders. Therefore, any government official who is proposing that a federal mandate be ignored is exercising Nullification.

The Question of States’ Rights

Should a state be allowed to determine such a question? This has been an ongoing argument for the past two hundred years. In the case of Little Rock schools, it was determined that black children had the right to attend Little Rock Central High. In the case of South Carolina, they essentially tabled the question for three decades. When it did resurface, a bloody war resulted, killing more Americans than in all other wars involving American participation combined.

The Denver mayor’s position is both political and ideological. Denver and Boulder have shifted Colorado’s voting preference from “strongly red” to “deeply blue” over the past twenty years. Republicans claim that the two large metropolitan areas, Denver and Boulder are filled with mostly “newcomers” who flooded the state when it became the first state to legalize recreational Marijuana. Long-time Coloradoans, living in the state’s more rural areas reacted with Greg Lopez and his unsuccessful 2022 run at the GOP gubernatorial bid. Lopez sought to create an Electoral College on the state level.

Johnston’s ulterior motive is viewed by his opponents as an effort to “manufacture new Democrat votes.” This comes with word that the Rocky Mountain state may be targeted by affluent, conservative, Republican retirees for second homes. These retirees, mostly from California, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska would declare residency, subsequently returning Colorado to the “red” column.

Previously Administered Remedies

Assuming that the issue had been previously settled, what was the actual verdict? In short, the perpetrators were “disenfranchised and precluded from holding future elected office.” Their punishment became their legacy to their children and grandchildren. In other words, they were never allowed to vote or hold office again. Their punishment was applied to their children and grandchildren.

After the Civil War, Confederate politicians and high-ranking military officials were denied the right to vote or hold public office. To make certain that the notion did not surface anytime in the future, their children and grandchildren were forced to share their punishment. I recall an LSU fraternity brother telling me that his parents had recovered these rights when they came of age after their grandparents and great-grandparents continued to pay for their great-great-grandparent’s actions. Southerners considered this treatment, “heavy-handed,” but it was consistent with policy during Congressional Reconstruction in the 1860s and 1870s.

Opponents of such a measure would describe it as “draconian.” Yet by rendering such a verdict, America would send a stout message to all sanctuary cities: “We are a nation of laws. Follow the Constitution or expect the same verdict as Colorado.”

Currently, rogue Mayors such as Mike Johntson are formulating their own interpretation of the Constitution. For him, it‘s about creating new voters. If cities in his own state are victimized such as Aurora, so be it. In Mayor Johnston’s eyes, it’s “for the greater good.”

Conversely, we can return to our Constitution for the final verdict.

I recall former Attorney General Jeff Session’s wry observation: “I’ll bet John C. Calhoun’s ghost is laughing his ass off right now!”

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!