Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) argued that Congress should not be passing laws “that the states would consider nullifying.”
Ernst, the Republican nominee for Senate in Iowa, made the comments at a forum at the 2013 Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition and were flagged by The Daily Beast on Monday.
“You know we have talked about this at the state legislature before, nullification. But, bottom line is, as U.S. Senator, why should we pass laws that the states are considering nullifying? Bottom line: our legislators at the federal level should not be passing those laws,” Ernst said. “We’re right…we’ve gone 200-plus years of federal legislators going against the Tenth Amendment’s states’ rights. We are way overstepping bounds as federal legislators. So, bottom line, no we should not be passing laws as federal legislators —as senators or congressmen— that the states would even consider nullifying. Bottom line.”
Of course, as the Daily Beast pointed out, states can’t nullify federal laws.
Ernst’s comments allude to a discredited argument that states can void federal laws that they disagree with. That argument was strongly supported by slavery advocate John C. Calhoun before the Civil War. It was also resurrected by segregationists in the 1950s and 1960s.
Recent polling has shown an increasingly tight race between Ernst and Democratic nominee Rep. Bruce Braley (IA).
Watch the video of Ernst below:
Ernst seems to think that Iowa is South Carolina or Mississippi. She also needs a crash course in Constitutional law.
And down the rabbit hole she goes. . . . grinning and nodding as she clutches the “states rights” blankie just before she hits absolute bottom.
Is it possible to de-certify a candidate due to their staggeringly arrogant ignorance of the OFFICE THEY ARE RUNNING FOR and its DUTIES?
(probably not. After all, we did have Sarah Palin for V.P.)
States CANNOT NULLIFY FEDERAL LAW!!! That whole issue was settled in 1865. Even though it has ALWAYS been a part of the US Constitution: Article 6, Clause 2. RE: FEDERAL SUPREMACY.
Joni Ernst shouldn’t be as stupid as she while running for the Senate but there it is.
And here I thought no female politician would ever give Sarah a run for her money.