Definition
To nullify means to cancel out the legal or binding effect of something, or to make it invalid or of no use. It is to declare something void or ineffective, or to counteract its impact or influence.
Pronunciation
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Excerpts from News Articles
As immigration barrister Colin Yeo warns, the Home Office has nullified citizenship before, relying on the confusing logic that it was never actually held if acquired through error or Home Office mistake. At present, the policy to recognise the British citizenship of those born before October 2 2000 has been paused.
Such refusals could involve legal maneuvers like interposition, in which a community delays or constrains the enforcement of a law it opposes, or nullification , in which a community explicitly declares a law to be null and void within its borders. At the end of the scale, there’s secession.
"These collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida's legislative process, and defy the will of Floridians," DeSantis wrote in a letter seen by Reuters.
After a spring and summer of rallies, marches, and demonstrations, an agreement was signed between the city and a coalition of African Americans, liberals, and labour organizations, calling for various measures to enforce the existing laws and regulations with respect to housing. But this agreement was to have little effect; the impression remained that King’s Chicago campaign was nullified partly because of the opposition of that city’s powerful mayor, Richard J. Daley, and partly because of the unexpected complexities of Northern racism.
To be sure, the issue may not need a court resolution. Indeed, the expulsions could effectively be nullified soon if Jones and Pearson are reappointed on an interim basis ahead of the next election for their seats. Under the Tennessee Constitution, that decision is made by the “legislative body of the replaced legislator’s county of residence at the time of his or her election.”
“These collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida’s legislative process, and defy the will of Floridians,” DeSantis wrote.
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Abbott said.
"Texas has one of the strongest 'Stand Your Ground' laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney," Abbott said.
However, Texas’s Republican extremist governor Greg Abbott said on Saturday on Twitter that he was already working on pardoning Perry from his conviction, which he called an attempted jury nullification of Texas’s self-defense law.
“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand your ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or progressive district attorney," he said. "Additionally, I have already prioritized reining in rogue District Attorneys, and the Texas Legislature is working on laws to achieve that goal."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Saturday he seeks to pardon a man convicted of murdering a legally armed 28-year-old during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, while also chiding the prosecutor’s office that secured the conviction. “Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand your ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or progressive district attorney,” Abbott said on Twitter.
Comer and other House Republicans have even claimed, as part of their demand that Bragg turn over documents and testimony about the investigation into Trump, that new laws might be required to nullify such supposed freelancing in the future. The Judiciary Committee in particular “must now consider whether to draft legislation that would, if enacted, insulate current and former presidents from such improper state and local prosecutions,” they wrote in a letter to Bragg last month.
In March, however, the constitutional court nullified the results of legislative elections held last year – where the opposition nabbed the most seats – and reinstated the previous parliament instead.
LaRock, one of three Virginia lawmakers who penned a letter to Vice President Mike Pence asking him to nullify the commonwealth’s slate of presidential electors, is one of eight Republicans running in Senate District 1, a heavily red district that covers the northern Shenandoah Valley.
DeSantis has asked the Florida inspector general to investigate what he called "collusive and self-dealing arrangements" that aim to nullify recently passed legislation, and "defy the will of Floridians". He said the prior board’s actions appear to represent improper delegation of authority, among other violations.
Last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning a woman’s constitutionally protected right to an abortion was supposed to send the issue of abortion access to the states, where local politicians were supposed to have the best sense of the electorate’s views. But the decision on Friday by a conservative judge in Texas, invalidating the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, showed the push for nationwide restrictions on abortion has continued since the high court’s nullification of Roe v. Wade.
FDA authorization for a key abortion drug could be nullified after Friday, unless an appeals court acts on a Biden administration request to block last week’s ruling suspending approval of the drug.
Democrats know that essentially nullifying the approval of a commonly-used abortion drug is largely a political loser. Republicans lost scores of winnable races last election cycle. And just last week, liberals gained control of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court largely because Janet Protasiewicz campaigned on defending abortion rights.
Taiwan has become a central, totemic part of this struggle. If China manages to forcefully reunite with the island, then this will be detrimental to America’s position in several ways. First, a victory for Beijing will overnight nullify America’s security guarantees. Why would Japan, or South Korea, or Australia, believe that the US could keep them safe if it couldn’t help Taiwan?
Elsewhere on the continent, the top courts in Kenya and Malawi nullified presidential elections in 2017 and 2020. But Nigeria’s Supreme Court has never overturned a presidential result.
The self-described “neoliberal” columnist and CNN political analyst argued that “peace in Asia depends on maintaining the credibility of the United States-led deterrent.” The US and its allies, Rogin wrote, need to “shift resources to nullify the new threat and shore up their ability to protect their assets.” How exactly that might be achieved, however, he did not say.
Abbott claims a jury and a “progressive” district attorney “ nullified ” Texas’ self-defense laws by convicting Perry. But a court filing released Thursday give us a clearer window into who Daniel Perry is: a racist, blood-thirsty killer who fantasized about carrying out violence against protesters and, I should note, seemed interested in connecting with young girls.
"The district court countermanded the scientific judgment the FDA has maintained across five administrations; nullified the approval of a drug that has been safely used by millions of Americans over more than two decades; and upset reliance interests in the health care system that depends on the availability of mifepristone as an alternative to surgical abortion for women who choose to lawfully terminate their early pregnancies."
House Republicans rejoiced in a large ceremony last month after Congress successfully nullified D.C.’s revised criminal code with help from dozens of Democrats and support from President Biden, a rebuke of the deep-blue city’s legislation that GOP House leadership said would send a message to the nation that the GOP is tough on crime.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday fired another shot in his battle with Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), saying the state's Republican legislature would take steps to nullify the company's effort to circumvent state oversight of Walt Disney World.
DeSantis also added in a statement that “their cheerleaders in the media thought that Disney ‘outsmarted’ the state, but the new control board uncovered their sloppy scheme, and the agreements will be nullified by new legislation that I intend to execute. Disney will operate on a level playing field with every other business in Florida.”
Laying out his plan to exact retribution against the House of Mouse, the Florida Republican said the GOP-controlled state legislature will take steps to “formally nullify ” Disney’s attempts to maintain control of the district through last-minute maneuvering.
The industry contends that by nullifying years of evidence-based regulations by the Food and Drug Administration, the two rulings would eviscerate FDA authority more broadly and undermine the legal underpinnings of U.S. pharmaceutical research and development.
DeSantis on Monday said the state's Republican-led legislature would take steps to nullify Disney's effort to circumvent his oversight of Walt Disney World by revoking a development agreement the company struck with outgoing members of a state board.
The lawyer that represents him, Diane Protat, also represents a vaccine-skeptical French organization called BonSens, which has previously lobbied against the COVID-19 response. BonSens says it has also launched legal action in the U.S. and in France, the former to obtain the text messages and the latter aiming to nullify the COVID vaccine contracts between the EU and Pfizer.
The industry is arguing that by nullifying years of evidence-based regulations by the Food and Drug Administration, the two rulings would weaken the agency’s authority more broadly and threaten the legal underpinnings of pharmaceutical research and development, according to friend-of-the-court advisory briefs filed Friday with the Supreme Court.
"The bill provides no explicit protection for encryption, and if implemented as written, could empower Ofcom to try to force the proactive scanning of private messages on end-to-end encrypted communication services - nullifying the purpose of end-to-end encryption as a result and compromising the privacy of all user," they said.
The defendants are said to have been part of a society in which people willingly undergo extreme body modification. It is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos” – short for genital nullification – by having their penis and testicles removed.
Now, in a move Democrats say is unconstitutional, lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a measure handing the DeSantis loyalists retroactive power to nullify the agreement by amending a land use law relating to special taxing districts.
Disney responded by pushing through a developer's agreement and restrictive covenants that would limit the new board's actions for decades. The Governor responded by calling on the state lawmakers to pass a bill that would nullify the company's efforts.