HB2610 SB2657 / Allows state legislature to nullify unconstitutional federal statutes and orders.

The “Restoring State Sovereignty Through Nullification Act” creates a formal process in Tennessee law for invalidating federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, or court decisions deemed unconstitutional. Under the bill, the General Assembly becomes the arbiter of nullification proposals, which may be initiated by the governor, any legislator, state courts, a coalition of at least ten counties or municipalities, or via a voter petition of no fewer than 2,000 registered voters (with at least 25 signatures per county). Once introduced, a nullification bill must specify its own penalties or enforcement mechanisms before a floor vote. If passed, the federal action in question is declared “void and unenforceable” within Tennessee.

Proponents ground the measure in Tennessee’s constitutional heritage—invoking Article I §§ 1–2 of the Tennessee Constitution on inherent people’s power and the right to resist arbitrary government and connecting those to the U.S. Constitution’s original structure of federalism and separation of powers. The bill’s preamble emphasizes that only acts of Congress, duly passed and signed (or veto-overridden), qualify as “law” under Article I, § 7 U.S. Const., and it rejects the notion that judicial opinions or executive orders carry the force of law. In practice, the act codifies the state’s right not merely to challenge federal overreach in court but to proactively declare it null within our borders.

Critics will warn that nullification could trigger costly legal battles with the federal government or jeopardize federal funding if Tennessee refuses to enforce federal environmental, civil rights, or healthcare mandates. The fiscal note, however, pegs the act’s administrative cost as “not significant,” noting that any larger fiscal impacts would stem from future nullification bills rather than this procedural framework.

Under this bill, Tennessee asserts that its Constitution and people remain co-equal interpreters of the U.S. Constitution. By putting nullification rules on the books, the state codifies a constitutional originalist view of federalism: that Congress, not agencies or courts, is the sole lawmaker, and that Tennesseans have a co-equal right to reject federal acts beyond enumerated powers.