Federal officials could face fines and jail terms under proposed legislation
Nullification is yet again picking up steam in Dixie.
Pursuing an archaic legal theory that punctuated pre-Civil War disputes between the federal government and states, South Carolina state Rep. Bill Chumley last week pre-filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would criminalize implementation of President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare reform law.If his bill becomes law, any state official caught enforcing the healthcare law would be guilty of a misdemeanor and "must be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."
Federal officials caught enforcing the law, however, would be given stiffer punishment under the proposal.
Any federal employee or contractor enforcing the law "is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both," the bill proposes.
"I think we're within our rights to do this," Chumley explained toU.S. News. "It's an obligation, I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect the people."
The bill was drafted after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the healthcare law in June, a decision that Chumley strongly disagrees with. In response, says Chumley, "we put a little study committee together to look at the possibility of nullification."
The study group included local lawyers, retired political science professors, and medical doctors, Chumley says. Another attendee was state Sen. Lee Bright, who is proposing similar legislation in the legislature's upper chamber.
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