SCR21 affirms "the sovereign right of Louisiana to nullify unconstitutional acts of the federal government."
The Senate passed SCR21 on May 25, 2023, by a vote of 27 to 10. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because Article VI, Clause 2, of the U.S. Constitution requires that federal laws be made "in Pursuance" of the Constitution in order to be the "supreme Law of the Land." As such, any federal act that violates the Constitution is unconstitutional and therefore null, void, and of no force. Given that Article VI, Clause 3, further requires that state officials "shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution," legislators in Louisiana indeed have a solemn duty to uphold the sovereign right of the people to resist and obstruct usurpations of power by the federal government. Nullification is the Constitution's solution to reining in out-of-control government.
United States Constitution
Article VI
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
United States Constitution
10th Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
