This is the final part to my proposed amendment concerning adding further checks and balances to our federal system by granting the states as a whole the ability to veto acts of the federal government. Part III of this amendment appeared in the June 17 edition of the Times-Union. Just as the states have the power in Article V of the Constitution to ratify constitutional amendments by a three-fourths majority (38) of their number. So should the states have powers to do the following, which are summarized below.
1. The states as a whole shall have the authority by a two-thirds majority or more of their total number to censure or suspend temporarily or to veto and/or repeal by a three-fourths majority or more of their number any part or whole of an executive order signed by the president, a legislative act passed by Congress, a Supreme Court ruling, an international treaty ratified by the Senate or regulations issued by a federal bureaucratic agency and the enforcement by the federal government of any decree, law or regulation approved by any international or transnational authority made after the ratification of this amendment unless such an act infringes upon natural and Constitutional rights of the citizens and inhabitants of the United States and it’s territories.
2. The states as a whole shall have the authority by a seven-tenths majority or more of their total number to impeach and remove, censure, nullify the authority of, suspend temporarily or indefinitely any member(s) of the executive, legislative, judicial or abuse of power, repeated gross incompetence or reckless disregard in their duties, willful neglect of the duties of their office, being a rogue or renegade element of the federal government or under the influence of a foreign power.
Section 8 - Group Veto - Constitutional Arbitration Assembly
An independent constitutional arbitration assembly shall be formed to settle any disputes between the states and the federal government over an approved act of veto. The Constitutional Arbitration Assembly shall consist of one legal and constitutional scholar in good standing selected by lottery from one of the major universities of each registration rolls in each state. An Assembly decision in favor or against a disputed act of nullification must be passed by a simple majority vote in the Arbitration Assembly within a one-year time limit. The decision of the Constitutional Arbitration Assembly shall be considered final unless amended by a ratified constitutional ammendment.
