Nullification and Individual Sovereignty
Eight friends, going out to dinner, are arguing about restaurant choice. Each has their own favorite cuisine and chef. Decision time arrives, and one of the eight, let’s name him Alpha-1, unilaterally selects the restaurant and time. The other seven, with little further discussion, acquiesce. Alpha-1 is “Sovereign”. He exerted his ultimate authority to make a decision that was obeyed by the others.
Individual sovereignty is the essence of personal freedom. A colonist is, by definition, not sovereign, as he owes allegiance and obedience to whichever authority “owns” his colony. Having successfully rebelled against the King of England, a solitary sovereign, our Constitution’s framers inverted the pyramid of power by investing each individual, not any government entity, with definitive sovereign authority. Any power given to the state and federal governments was considered to be strictly limited and definitely “on loan” from that sovereign individual.
Our Constitution codifies this hierarchy of authority. Each state is a sovereign entity made up of sovereign individuals. Our nation is a federation of sovereign states, created by the Constitution, which is a compact ratified by those individual sovereign states. The federal government, as the creation of that compact, is most definitely not an equal partner. If one reads the proceedings of the ratifying conventions of the states, it is clear that the intent was to severely limit the powers of the federal government to those specifically listed in Article I, Section 8. The individual states, not the Supreme Court, had the authority to determine if the federal government exceeded its authority, and, as sovereign entities, could remedy the usurpation of power by nullification, interposition, or even by secession.
With a firm knowledge of American history comes the understanding that nullification is, as Jefferson stated, “the rightful remedy whenever the government violates the Constitution”. The Tenth Amendment specifically gives that power to the states and their citizens. Furthermore, there is no article, clause, or amendment in the Constitution that in any way abridges or eliminates that right.
Nullification of legislation and regulations contrary to the Constitution is the absolute duty of the governments of the sovereign states who derive their authority for such action from their sovereign citizens.
With the federal government continuing its expansion well beyond its constitutional authority, nullification remains our best legal remedy to preserve individual freedom.
Dr. Dan (Eichenbaum) spoke recently at the Nullify Now Conference in Raleigh, NC, on October 19, 2013. As a speaker and sponsor of the conference, Dr. Dan was able to interview influential author Dr. Tom Woods, syndicated talk show host Mike Church, Mike Maharrey of the Tenth Amendment Center, and writer Publius Huldah. The interviews and speeches from the conference will be broadcast on Freedom Forum Radio and will appear as audio and video podcasts on DrDansFreedomForum.com.
The first interview, included in this newsletter, is with Dr. Tom Woods, Jr., noted author, lecturer, and member of the prestigious Ludwig von Mises Institute. In the interview, Dr. Dan and Dr. Woods discuss the concept of individual sovereignty as it relates to nullification. The radio interview will air on WJRB 95.1FM and on the Internet beginning Saturday November 2, 2014.
Sovereignty and Nullification (part one)
Sovereignty and Nullification (part two)
Sovereignty and Nullification (part three)
Thomas E. Woods, Jr., is the New York Times bestselling author of 11 books, including 
Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century. A senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Woods holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard and his master’s, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University.
For eleven years Woods served as associate editor of The Latin Mass magazine; he is presently a contributing editor of The American Conservative magazine. A contributor to six encyclopedias, Woods is co-editor of Exploring American History: From Colonial Times to 1877, an eleven-volume encyclopedia.
Woods lives in Topeka, Kansas, with his wife and four daughters.
This is a topic I’ve been trying to grapple with for some time. I look forward to the views and listens. Another person with whom you may well be acquainted who advocates for nullification is Publius Huldah. You can read about her views on this topic vs. Mark Levin’s Convention remedies http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/.
I met and interviewed Publius Huldah in Raleigh on October 19. Wonderful woman and quite well-versed on nullification. I will air the interview and include in an upcoming newsletter as well. Thanks for thinking of me. Dr. Dan
I have researched this over the past year. I am trying to get people to understand our last stand is jury nullification. This we can do right now. I would appreciate any comments.
Common Sense 1.1
JURY NULLIFICATION…..“YES YOU CAN”
Remember “Yes We Can” from 2008? How once in office it morphed into “Yes I Can” (“I have a phone and a pen.”)? To take back control of our government it must be changed to “Yes You Can.” Presently we find ourselves in the Joe Biden World (you remember old bat shit crazy Uncle Joe). The PC (politically corrupt) world of which our federal government is a major player is doing everything it can to take and or ban our inalienable rights, ridicule and tear apart traditional family values, eviscerate our constitution and make us join the new world order under the control of the United Nations. Presently I find this no more blatant then in the allowing of men “who identify with being a woman” (especially without taking the ultimate step of castration to show how truly sick they are) to use women and girl’s public rest and locker rooms. To allow three tenths of one present of our population to make everyone else conform to their idea of being politically correct is, well, Joe Biden’s World in spades (pun intended).
Americans today need to step up to the plate and with God’s blessing and a firm resolve take back control of our government. We must return to following our Constitution as presently written for it is still the supreme Law of the Land. Until it is amended as allowed under Article V of our Constitution, it holds precedency over any law that congress may pass for which they do not have the authority to pass. The Constitution clearly enumerates in Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 thru 18 the authority given to congress to run our country. Common sense is the tool to be used in its interpretation not the PC (politically corrupt) ideology of today that is trying to be rammed down our throats through intimidation and name calling. This will require Americans to read it themselves instead of relying on lying, self aggrandizing/serving politicians, lawyers, or judges to explain it to us.
The time for JURY NULLIFICATION is now. We need to educate ourselves to the power which we all have right now to stop our power usurping, over reaching tyrannical federal government. We need to take back the narrative and direction our country has been headed and stop being lead by a bunch of weasel worded, mealy-mouthed, panty waste, politically correct/corrupt libs, progressives, democrats, republicans, socialists, RINO’s, elitist college professors in their Ivory Towers and tv/ radio talking heads (whether democrat or republician). If we do not take control now, working within the system to change it, the last recourse will be a revolt with the blood bath that will surely follow. This is not to be interpeted as a threat but mearly a observation based on events over the last 120 years or so.
I expect some when reading this will think; “Oh he’s crazy, we/I can’t do that! He is looking too simplistically at the problems we are facing.” That is precisely my point. Experience has shown me that when tasked to learn something new, be it a skill set or thought process, the people that make the job look easy or explain it the easiest to understand are the best to learn from. The people who use big words and confusion to make their jobs seem nearly impossible to understand (unless you are as smart as they are… which you or I can never be) are the ones who are only out for themselves. They do this to prevent others from learning the truth or job so as to keep it exclusively in their control. A prime example being the Federal Reserve which is allowed to operate with no oversite from Congress because everyone knows you need a Ph.D. in finance to understand the world of high finance. I would recommend “The Creature from Jekyll Island” by G. Edward Griffin which proves differently.
We need to read our Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights for ourselves taking to heart what Thomas Jefferson wrote with regards to law making:
“Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure.” –Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823.
You might want to reread that, as it will be important to keep in mind when the naysayers will inevitably come up with myriad reasons why jury nullification can not work.
The lack of understanding of the importance of jury nullification to our system of jurisprudence and the power it holds for us to use it in stopping an out of control federal government saddens me. The “powers that be” who decided to stop teaching civics classes in high schools have and will use anything they can in order to effect the change that THEY want to see in our country. They have worked this lack of education against us very well. The end result being jury nullification has dropped from the American conscience. This has purposely been allowed to take place over the past 100 years with the dawn of the progressive movement at the turn of the last century. Their intent was the dumbing down of the populace so as to not know their God given inalienable rights and liberties as citizens thus making them easier to control. This plan has worked beautifully for them. I heard it said that if you don’t know what freedoms, rights, and powers you have, how will you know if they are being or have been takin from you?
I have studied jury nullification over the past year in some detail. I am not nor do I claim to be a lawyer. I do admit to reading and thinking about the issues we face in America. I question everything when trying to better understand anything. At the bottom of this post I have a list of three “You Tube” videos that will more fully and clearly explain jury nullification than I am able to.
Here are a few points to hopefully pique your interest to read on and view the videos.
• Jury nullification has always been an integral part to our system of jurisprudence in the US. Its importance is derived from the fact that it is and always has been one of the two functions in a trial jury.
• These two functions of the trial jury are to A) determine from the evidence presented the guilt or innocence of the person on trial, and B) to determine if the law being applied in the trial is; constitutionally legal (does the constitution give the lawmakers the authority to make such a law), is the law being applied fairly in its use in the case being tried, and is it even a fair or just law at all!
• Trial judges across the country everyday falsely instruct juries to only concern themselves about the facts of the case as presented in court to the persons guilt or innocence. They will handle any problems about the law and how it is being applied. This goes totally against the basic principle of jury trial and judgement by ones peers.
But for the fact that the majority of Americans do not know their God given rights, they go along with the judges instructions. They are afraid that if they do not do as the judge tells them, they will get in trouble. Simply put, that is BS!
• It is the duty of the jury to execute justice and sometimes mercy, their decisions cannot be second guessed. “…The jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact.” (New York Constitution Article 1 Section 8)
• Jury nullification can be applied now, immediately, as it is already in place for us to use. We do not need to wait for state or federal politicians or judges up to and including the Supreme Court Justices to join our cause or give their blessing before we can use it! It does not require constantly asking for donations, but only that the citizenry be informed and take their turn when called for jury duty.
• It only takes one juror who understands jury nullification to “hang” a jury. This results in an acquittal of the accused who then can walk out of the courtroom a free man or woman. The most important point here is as long as one juror in any trial applies this knowledge the government will soon see the cost to hold these trials or retrials that they keep losing at trial. Jury nullification will make those laws unenforceable, by the people who have the ultimate last word in the matter….”We the People” of the jury.
• Most Americans realize that our system of common law was copied in part and refined from those of Anglo-Saxon and British common law. British common law evolved over hundreds of years because the English people were fed up with the King making and changing laws at his whim and will with no accountability to the people. The English people were forced to abide by these decrees/laws without any recourse. This is were the jury of ones peers came from.
• The British people had to literally fight the King on several occasions to demand and get the right to have their liberties restored and protected.
• This long history of the British people fighting for their liberty is documented at several points in their history as per; the 1100 Charter of Liberties, the Magna Carta of 1215, the Petition of Rights of 1628, the Grand Remonstrance of 1641, the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and the Bill of Rights of 1689. When they first stood up to their tyrant king to the present day has been over a period of 916 years. The fact that these principles are no longer taught in schools, shows that the political elite (in their own minds) do not want the common people to know their rights of Liberty but in fact want them to be forgotten completely.
This concept and history of jury nullification with the ensuing power it affords us needs to be shouted from the mountain tops nation-wide at every opportunity. It is left up to us as no one has or will do it for us.
At the present time there are American patriots sitting in jails because they chose to standup against the usurpation of the federal governments land use in Burns, Oregon. The law (read Constitution) is on their side yet they were still jailed and one (LaVoy Finicum) was murdered in cold blood by government agents. This was then shown on national TV to set an example and intimidate us if we should dare to standup to the government.
With regards to the Burns, Oregon patriots, the state of Oregon where they will be tried needs to be especially flooded now before they are brought to trial. The typical government ploy in situations like this is to offer the defendants the opportunity to plead down to a lesser charge instead of a much harsher penalty if they were to “take their chances and go to trial.”
People all the time complain about the abuses our government is perpetrating and how much they hate it. Yet in the end they conclude that they do not know what to do about it or there is nothing that can be done about it. To this I say bullshit because we still have the last word on any law passed or trying to be upheld through jury nullification. This is sheeple talk and where “Yes You Can” (do something about it) comes from.
The American people have been showing in the past year that they are more than fit to be tied with a government that does not listen to nor respect them. They know that their representatives are supposedly their employees so why let them continue to get away with this behavior? Many would relish the opportunity to stop this out of control government and send those who sit in the seats of power, where we placed them, with a resounding “No!…screw you and the horse you rode in on, no more of your PC (politically corrupt) bullshit.” Well here that opportunity is, as it always has been, just waiting for us to wake up and use it.
Now with jury nullification we can and have to do something about it. Jury nullification does not carry any legal repercussions from the government. Jurors can not be questioned on their decisions made in the jury deliberation room. It should also be noted that we would be working the system from within making it harder to being labeled as a right wing fanatic, the favorite rebuttal, in cases of standing up for our Constitution.
It is basic common sense that a jury have and use these powers of nullification. If not, the jury is just rubber stamping the will of the government through its judges. They will keep the power over the people as to what is admissible into the trial and the legality and or fairness of the laws that they say have been broken. So I ask, where is the safe guard for the people in a jury trial of one’s peers if this is allowed?
It must be kept in mind that in the 1100’s when the people first started to stand up for their liberties against the King demanding a trial by a “jury of their peers” that many of these peers picked at random could not read and many of the laws were not even written. So how could this possibly have worked you might wonder? Out of the 12 jurors it would be expected that a few of them would be intelligent, a few unintelligent with the rest falling somewhere in the middle. It worked because the jurors relied on their sense of fairness. Did the accused do what was being claimed? Just as important to be considered was it a legal law and not infringing on their God given liberties? Was it being fairly applied in this case? The jurors knew that it could very well be them on the stand being tried. They would not want the same unfair punishment to be applied to them, so they relied on their sense of fairness.
“The jury has an unalienable right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy.”
-John Jay, 1st Chief Justice, United States Supreme Court, 1789
In 1895 the US Supreme Court upheld the principle but ruled that juries were not to be informed of it by defense attorneys, nor were judges required to tell them about it. So as I said it is up to us to inform, teach, and use jury nullification.
Jury nullification needs to be spread through rallies, town hall meetings, and talks to civic groups, patriot groups at every opportunity. Pamphlets can be handed out in front of any local, state, or federal court house explaining the right of the people to use jury nullification to stop illegal unconstitutional laws perpetrate on us by DC. This action needs to involve as many people and groups as possible in order to insure that at least one person on any of the juries that come as a result of the actions taken by those in Burns, Oregon will use it to “hang” the jury.
My prayer is that you have read to this point. I would encourage you to use your common sense when watching or reading the included references and in doing your own research. I truly believe this to be the only viable way we have to free the patriots arrested in Burns as well as anywhere else people are being persecuted for standing up for our Constitution. The government will try to get them all to plea bargain down to a lesser charge instead of taking that “great chance” on a jury trial. They use this trick to their advantage every day all over the country. It has proven to be an indispensable tool for them to keep the status quo which only really benefits them.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. May God once again bless America in her time of need and all of your endeavors to regain control of our country.
Bear Marucci
(Last name given so you can look on face book to see I am not a troll)
Now for the You Tube video’s I had mentioned earlier:
This first video explains jury nullification in a teaching style I found very easy to follow. It is 45 minutes long but needs to be watched in its entirety to fully grasp the concept of jury nullification.
You can go to You Tube and search for;
8/23/13 Why Jury Nullification is critical to your freedom! Is the U.S Constitution a failure?
Or you can type this into your address bar;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMnwAvn8H4M
This second You Tube is by the same person but it is only 6 minutes long. While it is shorter, it is just as important as the first video. They have to be watched together because if not, it will be the way the courts will be able to stop the use of jury nullification by the people so please do not skip it.
You can go to You Tube and search for;
The “How To” of Jury Nullification
Or you can type this into your address bar;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu08TKhWzLs
This third You Tube video explains more clearly the origins of our system of jurisprudence we use today and what are the powers and liberties we have derived from them. It is one hour and twenty four minutes long but is a great resource to understand our concepts of liberty and our constitution.
You can go to You Tube and search for;
20141103 KrisAnne Hall “Genealogy of the Constitution”
Or you can type this into your address bar;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_WNHWzkyfE
In closing let me just add this last video can be more so watched at you leisure, while the first two should be watched as soon as you have the time because it is the means to stop the government and set our patriot political prisoners free.