A pair of Republican legislators in North Carolina have put forward a bill that would nullify any federal ruling on prayer in the state, WRAL reported Tuesday.
The impetus for the bill, filed by state Reps. Harry Warren and Carl Ford, was a legal dispute between the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Rowan County (N.C.) Board of Commissioners. In the federal lawsuit that was filed last month, the ACLU challenged the constitutionality of the Christian prayers that have started nearly every board meeting since 2007. The bill would render that lawsuit moot.
“The Constitution of the United States does not grant the federal government and does not grant the federal courts the power to determine what is or is not constitutional; therefore, by virtue of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the power to determine constitutionality and the proper interpretation and proper application of the Constitution is reserved to the states and to the people,” the bill reads.
At the heart of the legislation is a nullification argument, one that was been levied unsuccessfully by states throughout history.
