SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Mar 4, 2015) A bill filed in Missouri last week would declare federal executive orders null and void and take immediate steps to help render them as such in practice.

Introduced on Feb. 26 by Rep. Tim Remole, House Bill 1071 (HB1071) reads, in part:

Any federal regulation, rule, or memorandum promulgated as a result of an executive order of the President of the United States is repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Missouri and shall be declared invalid in this state. Such regulations, rules, or memorandums shall be considered null and void and of no effect, and no agency or political subdivision of this state shall take any action or utilize any resources to give effect to such rules, regulations, or memorandums.

In addition to this, HB1071 would make it the “duty of the general assembly to adopt and enact any and all measures as may be necessary to prevent the enforcement of regulations, rules, and memorandums issued by a presidential executive order.” This would put the onus upon the Missouri state legislature to act decisively against unlawful exectutive orders issued by Presidents past, present and future.

The bill is consistent with the advice of James Madison, who advised in Federalist #46 a “refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union” as an effective way to stop federal overreach. And while such advice was effective in Madison’s day when the federal government was extremely small, today it’s even more powerful in a time when the federal government reaches into nearly every aspect of a person’s life.

“They just don’t have the manpower to carry out all their so-called laws,” said Mike Maharrey of the Tenth Amendment Center. “By withdrawing state-level resources and enforcement, it makes it almost impossible for the feds to carry out what they want to do.”

In a discussion on similar bills last year, Judge Andrew Napolitano agreed, suggesting that even a single state withdrawing all enforcement and resources would make federal laws “nearly impossible to enforce.”

The issue addressed by HB1071 is a unilateral, unconstitutional rule-making process in the executive branch. Through executive orders, and agency rules, the president and his agencies are able to create or change law on a whim.

“The executive branch is beyond out of control,” said Maharrey. “It’s gotten to the point that unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats are actively taking our liberty, and this bill in Missouri will help stop them.”

HB1071 has yet to be referred to a committee at the present time. It must receive a committee assignment, and pass affirmatively through that committee before it can receive a vote from the full state house.

ACTION ITEMS
For Missouri: Contact your state rep and urge them to support and cosponsor HB1071.

For other states: Contact your state legislators, and politely urge them to introduce similar legislation to Missouri HB1071 that would protect your freedoms from unlawful Presidential executive orders.