Victory in Tennesee

Tennessee continues to fight against same-sex marriage in America after the shocking Supreme Court Obergefell decision this summer, legalizing same-sex marriage throughout the country. Many pro-family advocates have been calling on individual states to enforce their own sovereignty and nullify the unconstitutional decision. Tennessee legislatures are responding to that call.

Sadly, the idea of nullification is foreign to most Americans. Nullification is a Constitutional principle based on the 10th amendment which grants each state sovereignty over all areas not specifically granted to the federal government by the Constitution. The founders were skeptical of nationalized power with no local voice or source of power, and this is why they made the United States into a federalist system, splitting power between the national and state governments. Nullification has been used by states before, including Kentucky and Wisconsin, in response to unlawful US Supreme Court rulings. Even Thomas Jefferson, the author of our federal constitution, co-authored a Virginia and Kentucky Resolution with James Madison, rejecting lawless federal government actions.

Accordingly, Tennessee argues that since there is no specific power given by the US Constitutional to the federal government to make laws concerning the right to marry, the Obergefell decision is therefore wrong and should be nullified by the states.

Tennessee has a long history of upholding traditional marriage, including many recent decisions (1999, 2004, 2005, and a constitutional amendment passed in 2006 by 81.3% of the voters).

On Friday the House of Representatives made the next step towards nullification by passing a resolution condemning the Obergefell decision. The legislatures were frustrated by their lack of standing to bring suit against the Obergefell decision in courts on behalf of county clerks. The non-binding resolution was made in an attempt to support two lawsuits filed by separate Tennessee counties to stop their clerks from issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

In January a bipartisan bill was blocked that would have stopped all same-sex marriage in Tennessee. Still the non-binding resolution does show movement in the right direction. Our hope is that as more state legislatures understand their constitutional sovereignty, pro-family legislatures will actually assert what already belongs to them and nullify the Obergefell decision.

The resolution is now the under review by the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee.

Click here to contact Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam.

He is a conservative and supports the biblical definition of marriage. Urge him to use his considerable influence to rally the committee to approve the resolution. Or call (615) 741-2001.  

Click here to learn more about nullification.

Here too.