When States Turn to Nullification: Minnesota’s Lawsuit Exposes a Century-Old Strategy

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison initiated a lawsuit on January 12 against U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons, and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement apparatus. The suit, filed jointly with Minneapolis and St. Paul, asserts that ICE’s “enforcement surge” in Minnesota constitutes a “violation of the Tenth Amendment and the sovereign laws and powers granted to states.”

Ellison emphasized during his press conference that the state and cities’ designation as illegal immigrant “sanctuaries” allows them to “nullify” federal immigration law. This argument echoes historical precedents where Democratic Party leaders invoked states’ rights to defy federal authority, including Thomas Jefferson and James Madison’s Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798–1799—a direct response to President John Adams’ Alien and Sedition Acts.

The tactic has resurfaced in modern political discourse, with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, and the state’s Democratic leadership framing their actions as a constitutional defense against federal overreach. Historically, such arguments led to South Carolina’s Ordinance of Nullification in 1832–1833, John C. Calhoun’s advocacy for secession, and the Civil War. More recently, segregationists used similar rhetoric during the Little Rock Crisis of 1957, when Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus blocked Black students from attending Little Rock Central High School.

On January 29, Trump border czar Tom Homan announced the administration’s readiness to withdraw federal personnel from Minnesota if state cooperation is achieved. The lawsuit and its implications follow a pattern of Democratic Party officials historically rejecting federal authority under the guise of states’ rights—a strategy that has rarely ended well for those who pursue it.

The good news for President Donald Trump lies in his recent contemplation of invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act, which Abraham Lincoln used following the April 15, 1861 attack on Fort Sumter. If Minnesota’s actions escalate, this legal precedent could provide a clear response to what critics describe as a neo-Confederate uprising in the state.