A listener responded to a comment I made on Constitution Radio with Douglas V. Gibbs last Saturday when, while explaining nullification's constitutionality, I made a comparison to the Trinity in the Bible, saying that like the word "Trinity" is not in the Holy Bible, the word "Nullification" is not in the Constitution, but through Article VI, the 10th Amendment, and basic principles of State Sovereignty, the concept constitutionally exists.
The listener wrote:
Doug,
You said the word "Nullification" is not in the Constitution but it is there. I agree. The principle is implied. But you have often said that about the "electoral college." But, I just wanted to remind you so when you state that on the electoral college, that will not be true, not even with imagination can you read it into the Document.
I responded:
I responded:
Nullification is not "implied." It is there specifically in description, and authority as provided by the Tenth Amendment. It is simply not there by the name "nullification." To use the word "implied" is to allude to implied powers, which are unconstitutional, and are used to circumvent the United States Constitution through the "interpretation" of the Constitution by the whims of politicians and judges.
The Electoral College is the same, described specifically through the electors belonging to the States in Article II, Section 1, and refined by the 12th Amendment. . . but the name "Electoral College," was not used until the 1800s. The Electoral College is a very important tool that protects us from the excesses of democracy. Without the Electoral College, our spiral into tyranny would be much worse. The Electoral College protects the minority States. If the election was by pure democratic process, and decided by the popular vote, the winner would be decided by the seven largest metropolitan areas, and any voice of rural America would be ignored, and have no power in the process.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
As I understand it, the method of the choosing of the electors is still up to the state legislatures. The legislatures are not bound by the results of the popular election except by their own state constitutions. So any state can choose to give all of its electors to the winner of the popular vote, assign them proportionally, or even give them all to the loser - provided that the state constitution allows it.
ReplyDeleteSo to implement nullification all the states would need to do would be to allocate their electors proportionally to the popular vote. This still assumes that the electors vote the way they are expected to. The legislature can only choose the electors - not how the electors actually vote.