HB3556, the Uniform Recognition and Enforcement of Canadian Domestic Violence Protective Orders Act, allows law enforcement in West Virginia to enforce protective orders issued in Canada without requiring that such orders be registered with a court in the United States.
The House passed HB3556 on February 25, 2023, by a vote of 84 to 8. We have assigned pluses to the nays because all law enforcement and judicial officers in each of the several States are bound by oath to support the U.S. Constitution. Article IV, Section 1, of the Constitution confers recognition to only “the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State”—not the judgements of foreign nations. In addition, the Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment protect “due process of law” and provide that “No State shall make or enforce any law” abridging the “privileges or immunities” of American citizens. Protective orders that do not satisfy the Constitution’s Article VI requirement that U.S. courts apply the “supreme Law of the Land,” which “Judges in every State shall be bound thereby,” are not valid or enforceable.