6 Am Jur 2d, Sec 177 late 2d, Sec 256

The general misconception is that any statute passed by legislators bearing the appearance of law constitutes the law of the land. The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and any statute, to be valid, must be In agreement. It is impossible for both the Constitution and a law violating it to be valid; one must prevail. This is succinctly stated as follows:

he General rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of it's enactment and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it. An unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed. Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted.

Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principles follow that it imposes no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection, and justifies no acts performed under it.....

A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one. An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing valid law. Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the lend, it is superseded thereby.

No one Is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.


Jon Roland:

Strictly speaking, an unconstitutional statute is not a "law", and should not be called a "law", even if it is sustained by a court, for a finding that a statute or other official act is constitutional does not make it so, or confer any authority to anyone to enforce it.

All citizens and legal residents of the United States, by their presence on the territory of the United States, are subject to the militia duty, the duty of the social compact that creates the society, which requires that each, alone and in concert with others, not only obey the Constitution and constitutional official acts, but help enforce them, if necessary, at the risk of one's life.

Any unconstitutional act of an official will at least be a violation of the oath of that official to execute the duties of his office, and therefore grounds for his removal from office. No official immunity or privileges of rank or position survive the commission of unlawful acts. If it violates the rights of individuals, it is also likely to be a crime, and the militia duty obligates anyone aware of such a violation to investigate it, gather evidence for a prosecution, make an arrest, and if necessary, seek an indictment from a grand jury, and if one is obtained, prosecute the offender in a court of law.

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2013/01...icial-acts.html

Quote: Eglman wrote in post #1

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6 Am Jur 2d, Sec 177 late 2d, Sec 256

The General rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law is in reality no law, but is wholly void,...

A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one. An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing valid law. Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the lend, it is superseded thereby.

No one Is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it....

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The 6th Amendment indicates we not the Supremes have the final authority. Plenty of case law and history of both the people and congress telling the USSC to piss up a rope. For example The Fugitive Slave Act was ruled constitutional so was Dread Scott. but they were ignored by the people. the USSC only has authority where it is in accordance with the Const. It has no authority where it is in conflict with it. A modern example is the 2nd Amendment attacks going on, they are unconstitutional and it does not matter if the the USSC says they are fine. The issue is not what the court says so much as whether or not are the people willing to stand up for their rights.

As far as the people having the final say on the law here is a research site about your rights and duties as a juror the courts have confirmed but will not tell you about.

http://fija.org/

The Supremacy Clause established the following rule:

“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

 nationally recognized expert on the framing and adoption of the Constitution, explains in chapter three of his book, The Original Constitution: What it Actually Said and Meant:

“The Supremacy Clause thereby described a hierarchy by which state (and federal) judges would prioritize federal and state enactments..The most obvious prescription of the Supremacy Clause was that the Constitution and duly-enacted federal laws and treaties were superior to state constitutions and state laws..The US Constitution was mentioned first—before ‘Laws . . . made in Pursuance thereof’—to indicate that the Constitution was superior to statutes..The Supremacy Clause referred to laws ‘in Pursuance’ of the Constitution but to treaties as ‘made, under the Authority of the United States.’..Thus, state and federal courts were to apply sources of law in the following hierarchy:

Highest: The U.S. Constitution

Next highest: U.S. laws and treaties, duly made within the scope of federal power

Next: State constitutions

Lowest: State laws.

Federal actions taken outside the scope of federal power were not, of course, to be law at all.”

So according to Robert Natelson, state and federal courts were to apply sources of law according to the hierarchy listed above. But what happens when federal courts, even the highest federal court in the land fails to do so? Do the states and the People have any further recourse? Yes we do, and the most appropriate one is called state nullification.

Federal actions taken outside the scope of federal power are not laws, they are acts of usurpation. In other words, an unconstitutional federal “law” is no law at all, and the states and their people are not bound to obey them

Take Arizona when it passed it's laws on illegals Arizona is acting well within the scope of its reserved powers when it enacts such laws.

Arizona is not somehow being insubordinate, rather it is our so called federal government that is refusing to subordinate its actions to the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land. By interposing itself between the people of Arizona and a federal government gone rouge, the 48th state is simply performing what most states (both northern and southern), properly understood to be their duty for almost the first half of American history.

When representatives from Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts assembled in 1814 at what is known as the Hartford Convention, in response to the federal government’s unconstitutional conscription plan and other grievances they had, they did not ask the federal government for permission to “opt out” of their conscription plan, neither did they attempt to sue the federal government in federal court, as far as I know.  Rather, they drafted a report and resolutions on their own, without asking permission. They understood that the federal government was their agent, not their master. Let me share with you an excerpt from one of those resolutions adopted by the convention. It reads:

“In case of deliberate, dangerous, and palpable infractions of the Constitution affecting the sovereignty of a State and the liberties of the people, it is not only the right, but the duty of such State to interpose its authority for protection in the manner best calculated to secure that end.”

We don’t necessarily need a convention, like the one convened in Hartford back in 1814, to halt federal acts of usurpation.