Mayor Walsh’s Version of Nullification
In 1832, South Carolina held a state convention which adopted the Ordinance of Nullification. This Ordinance declared that the Federal Tariff of 1832 was "null and void." In effect, South Carolina was stating formally that a federal law dealing with a tariff law, which was felt to be unfair and harmful to South Carolina, would not be obeyed in their state. This was a tariff law which had been passed by Congress and signed by President Andrew Jackson. In fact, South Carolina's Ordinance of Nullification went even further by threatening to secede from the Union, if President Jackson used force to coerce the state to obey federally enacted law.
To the extent that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh evinces an intention to defy federal law enforcement, his recent comments about illegal aliens (or undocumented persons, as progressives like to call them) look much like the 21st century version of nullification.