HB415 prevents the enforcement of certain executive orders by the President of the United States, requires the Utah Constitutional Defense Council to review certain presidential executive orders, and authorizes the state Attorney General or Governor to seek to have the executive order declared unconstitutional.
The House passed HB415 on March 2, 2021, by a vote of 55 to 17. We have assigned pluses to the yeas because presidential executive orders should only be issued to enforce the U.S. Constitution and the “laws which shall be made in pursuance thereof” by Congress, according to Article 2 and Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. Whenever executive orders issued by the President involve the assumption of unconstitutional powers, nullification of such acts by the states remains protected by the Bill of Rights.