State efforts to roll back the federal health care law have drawn increasing attention to the principle of nullification in recent months. Â And as state legislators realize they possess a viable tool to fight unconstitutional federal overreach, they increasingly employ the idea to push back against other expansions of federal power, including TSA full body scanners, acts prohibiting medicinal marijuana, the Real ID Act, EPA regulations and federal gun laws.
Texas and California stand at the forefront of the nullification effort. The Lone Star State was the first state to propose legislation to completely nullify the federal health care law, and legislation to ban TSA scanners and groping searches enjoys broad support in the Texas legislature. California, on the other hand, has been actively defying both Congress and the Supreme Court on marijuana laws for years – and getting away with it.
James Madison said the states have a right and are duty bound to interpose when the feds overreach, and Thomas Jefferson called it, “the rightful remedy.†But what exactly is nullification? What are its origins and history?  Can states really declare a law unconstitutional, and null and void within its borders?
The Nullify Now! Tour answers these questions.
This national program presented by The Tenth Amendment Center and sponsored by The Foundation for a Free Society will roll into Austin, Texas on Saturday, April 16 and Los Angeles, California on May 28.  Featuring great speakers like Harvard and Columbia University educated historian Thomas Woods Jr. and best-selling author and historian Kevin Gutzman, the presentations will weave together a logical, moral, and constitutionally sound case for nullification through historical writings, case studies and the words of the founders.
“Nullification isn’t some mystical legal principle buried in cobweb covered books. It’s simply any action taken by states to resist unconstitutional federal acts,†Tenth Amendment Center communications director Mike Maharrey said. “It’s a principle rooted in the Constitution and woven into the philosophical foundation of the United States. The Nullify Now! presentation makes the case for nullification in an entertaining and captivating way.â€
For more information, log on towww.nullifynow.com/austin/ andwww.nullifynow.com/losangeles/