ORLANDO, Florida - July 20, 2010 - States’ rights are in the air, along with a renewed focus on the U.S. Constitution, and The Tenth Amendment Center will hold a summit to inform the public how to “stop federal mandates at the state border.”

The Florida Tenth Amendment Summit will be held in Orlando at the Omni Orlando Resort at Championsgate on October 10, 2010 (10-10-10) - there’s a nice touch of marketing savvy in the selection of that date.

An announcement from TAC pointed out momentum in the states’ rights movement as Virginia, Utah, Idaho and others fight Obamacare. Occupying the top media narrative right now is Arizona’s effort to deal with the federal failure to stem the tide of undocumented aliens. Washington state, Oklahoma and Tennessee are fighting Cap-and-Trade legislation. Those are just a few efforts by the states; others are working to stop the Real I.D. Act and protect gun rights.

Nullification is the most logical way to proceed, according to the Center. Founder of the Tenth Amendment Center Michael Boldin says, “As more and more laws and mandates come out of Washington, D. C., the question people ask most is, ‘What do we do about it?’ The status quo response includes lobbying Congress, marching on D. C., ‘voting the bums out,’ suing in federal court and more.” Despite all those measures, “[g]overnment continues to grow year in and year out,” says Bolden.

Boldin says prominent Founders such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison advised a different path than what the status quo recommends.

Nullification is the proper remedy to an unconstitutional act from the federal government. When a state nullifies a federal law, it is proclaiming that the law in question is void and inoperative or non-effective within the boundaries of that state.

Also at issue is the troublesome matter of Supreme Court power and why states and not the Court “should arbitrate disputes between the states and the federal government over the constitutionality of the federal government’s actions.”

Bestselling author Thomas E. Woods will speak at the Summit. Woods is author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution Meltdown and Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century. Woods uses historical writings, case studies and speeches by the Founding Fathers to build a constitutionally sound case for nullification. These presentations lay the foundation for information about rolling back Obamacare, Cap and Trade, and other unconstitutional expansions of federal power.

The Center’s announcement said the Founding Fathers “believed that nullification was the ‘moderate middle ground,’ not the road to secession.” Proponents of big government often criticize nullification as a reminder of the U.S. Civil War.

But Andrew Nappi, state coordinator for the Florida TAC, suggested that critics could be enlightened by reading real history.

Nappi answered questions for The U.S. Report about the role of nullification in American history. Nappi said that nullification is the “act of a sovereign state (that) refuses to recognize the unconstitutional actions of its limited powers agent, the federal government.” It has been used in tariff acts and it was used to help slaves when Indiana and New York used nullification as a remedy to the Fugitive Slave Act. He said, “Every state with a medical marijuana law has in effect nullified parts of federal marijuana laws.”

In addition to the Orlando Summit, TAC will host summits in Ft. Worth, Texas, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Phoenix, Arizona.

Groups including the Orlando Tea Party, Tampa 912 and others are helping to sponsor the event. WeRefuse.com is co-hosting the event. Tickets can be obtained online.

Nappi sees the states’ rights movement as “a contemporary struggle to return to the original intent of the Founders.”

The Nullification Summit will help renew attention to the limits on federal power established by the Constitution, while states mount efforts to stop unconstitutional laws.