Roanoke Tea Party

This is part 4 of a series on upcoming legislation coming up before the state house this session.

Part 1 Agenda 21

Part 2 Abolish the corporate income tax

Part 3 Eminent Domain Reform

This section deals with a variety of nullification bills that have sponsors. So our task on December 2 will be to see if we want to support any of these other nullification bill in lieu of the Freedom For Virginians Act (FFVA) which does not have a sponsor yet.

Nullification is a hot topic and a controversial one as well. Nullification is the principle, espoused by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, for the states to deal with unconstitutional federal laws. Essentially nullification is the states right to nullify or make moot, any piece of Federal legislation that they deem unconstitutional. Since the 10th Amendment gives the states all rights not specifically enumerated in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, this means the states have rights, as sovereign states, to oppose unconstitutional laws.

This concept has been used by Virginia, as recently as 2009, where the Health Care Freedom Act passed…which was written specifically to give our Attorney General the basis to sue the Federal Government and settle some of the constitutional issues around the Health Care Reform Laws in Federal court. There are other bills on the docket that take a similar tact.

HB 1397 Would allow the AG to sue the federal government if they impose cap and trade on the Commonwealth.

HB 1438 Would clarify the meaning and extent of the Commerce Clause and would make items manufactured or grown in Virginia and sold within the Commonwealth, exempt from Federal oversight.  The language is not as specific as HB 1397 on what would happen if this were challenged, but presumably it would be in Federal court.

HB1357 Nullifies any Federal Regulations in regards to carbon dioxide. This would likely end up in court with the EPA.

There is another resolution called the Freedom Of Speech Act.  Because it is a resolution, it has no legal force so we don’t expect to be throwing much support behind this concept.

While most Virginia Lawmakers agree on the concept of nullification, they are not so bold as to how the state will uphold a ruling that a bill is nullified.  There only recourse seems to be  through the Federal Court System.AG Cuccinelli is on record as saying that if the Health Care lawsuit loses, then the 10th Amendment is effectively dead. 

Is Federal Court the right place to contest these items.? The Roanoke Tea Party beleives it is not. That is why we authored the Freedom For Virginian Act.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1797 “That the Government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself, since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that as in all other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.”

Madison,the author of the Constitutio expressed the same view before the Virginia Legislature.

We believe in the concept of interposition. That is if the bill is nullified, then the states have the right and the duty to step up and protect you from unconstitutional laws.  This is why we support the FFVA. Here is a summary.

Freedom For Virginians Act (FFVA)

What Is It? The Freedom For Virginians Act (FFVA) is a proposed piece of state legislation that makes the Commonwealth of Virginia  a bastion of freedom and protects the citizens of this Commonwealth from unconstitutional Federal activity.

How Does It Work? The Constitution lays out what exactly the role of the Federal Government is. Its responsibilities are called enumerated powers and listed in Article 1 Section 8. If the Constitution doesn’t designate powers to the Federal Government, the states and the people retain them (under the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution.) With the FFVA enacted, Virginians can feel safe exercising completely their rights as protected by the U.S. Constitution because both state and local government will be required to stop the enforcement of anything unconstitutional by the Federal Government.

The sovereign states of this union set up the Federal Government as their agent to handle certain items that could not be efficiently handled by the 13 states separately. They specifically wrote in the document and agreed that the states retained their rights, specifically under the 10th Amendment.

So who determines whether a law is outside the scope of these enumerated powers? Americans have been led to believe that the U.S. Supreme Court makes that determination. They have been misled. The Supreme Court, according to our founders, is only “supreme” regarding cases that stem from the enumerated powers of the Constitution. The Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction in cases where the Federal government is acting outside the Federal Government’s powers as stated in the Constitution. Don’t take our word for it. Read what Thomas Jefferson says in the Kentucky Resolutions.

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia is very clear on two key points: Virginia is a sovereign Republic and that the Commonwealth has a duty to protect its citizens from oppression. This gives the state the right to intercede on behalf of Virginians when the Federal Government oversteps its Constitutional powers and the duty to act to protect the citizens from the Federal government attempting to exercise unconstitutional authority.

The FFVA, in part states:

As a Sovereign state, the Commonwealth of Virginia reserves the right to determine whether any law, regulation, executive order or Judicial Ruling goes beyond the powers vested to the Federal Government by Virginia and the several states that created the United States Constitution. Any laws, regulations, executive orders, Treaties or Judicial Rulings from the United States that the Commonwealth of Virginia deems not within said enumerated powers shall be considered moot and unenforceable within its borders.

Does this mean secession?Absolutely not! The FFVA does not say nor is it intended to mean the Commonwealth of Virginia is leaving the union. That would be secession. The FFVA says that, in Virginia, the Constitution will be followed as written. That adhereance to the supreme law of our land is what every citizen should demand and what every public official takes an oath to do. Unfortunately, no one has been doing it for a long time and that is the reason for the problems we are experiencing today. We intend for Virginia to start enforcing the Constitution again. It isn’t just our right. It is our responsibility.

This is the Civil Rights Movement of the 21^st Century. In the 1960s, the Federal Government rightly stepped into the Civil Rights movement on issues like Brown vs. the Board of Education. Segregated schools and other evils of the Jim Crow South were clear violations of the Equal Protection Clause which gave the Federal Government the right, and more importantly the duty, to step in an protect it’s citizens.

As in the 60’s there is a need for a Civil Rights Movement. Today the villain is not the states, but the Federal Regime that is instituting laws in clear violation of the Constitution and with the express purpose of exercising authority it wants, but does not constitutionally have. Our state officials not only have the right, but the duty, to step up and protect us from that tyranny.

So our task on December 2nd is to decide on what of these weaker nullification actions (if any) we will support. And how to best get the FFVA additional grass root support.

Part 5 will deal with the Repeal Amendment, something you’ll be hearing a lot about.

Part 6 (and our final section) will deal with an interesting idea to help finance our school systems.