A Resolution of Interposition and Nullification – Don’t think about it! | Chocolate City: The Best African American Blog

A Resolution of Interposition and Nullification – Don’t think about it!

Interposition means that a state of the United States of America may oppose any federal action it believes encroaches on its power and nullification refers to a state in the United States refusing to enforce a federal law on Constitutional grounds.

Interposition and nullification were referenced by Dr. Martin Luther King in his famous sixteen minutes "I Have a Dream" speech delivered on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D. C.:

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

The words interposition and nullification also had another historical significance traceable to the Brown v. Board of Education trial, where the Supreme Court declared that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia responded to the Supreme Court by adopting resolutions of "interposition and nullification," where they could oppose the ruling and refuse to enforce the desegregation of public schools.

If Dr. King was around today, his historic speech would look something like this:

I have a dream that one day down in Arizona with its vicious racists, with its governor having her lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Arizona little Latino boys and Latino girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.