Tennessee Senate Affirms Sovereignty under the 10th Amendment

[Guest NAC]

Someone might have posted this already, but I didn't see it.

Tennessee Senate Affirms Sovereignty under the 10th Amendment|Tenth Amendment Center

On May 4th, the Tennessee State Senate voted unanimously in support of Senate Joint Resolution 311 (31 yay - 0 nay). The resolution, sponsored by Senator Randy McNally, is designed to send Congress a message that the federal government has overstepped its Constitutional bounds by mandating a massive amount of federal policies upon the states in violation of the 10th Amendment.

The resolution now awaits transmittal to the House.

Read the full text below:

WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.â€; and

WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

WHEREAS, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and

WHEREAS, today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and

WHEREAS, many federal laws are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people of the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal government may not usurp; and

WHEREAS, Article IV, Section 4 says, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Governmentâ€, and the Ninth Amendment states that “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the peopleâ€; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and

WHEREAS, a number of proposals from previous administrations and some now pending from the present administration and from Congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING, that the State of Tennessee hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this serve as Notice and Demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all compulsory federal legislation which directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be distributed to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House and the Speaker of the Senate of each state’s legislature of the United States of America, and each member of the Tennessee Congressional Delegation.

[Guest SUNTZU]

Love the comments in that link.

[Guest NAC]

heh, Ya....

Either way, I think it's going to pass in the house. We need to give Bredesen a friendly call and make sure he does not plan on vetoing this.

[Guest canynracer]

Love the comments in that link.

DITTO!!!

[Guest sstouder]

Great stuff there

[Fadex]

Thats awesome...love it

[Volzfan]

I didn't think that they had the guts to do that. I'm very proud to see it!

[dkd83]

Ain't the Constitution/Bill o' Rights troublesome....for the Federal Gov.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

I am one of the ones that suggested that this be done.. glad to see it!

[Guest FroggyOne2]

http://www.newsok.com/house-bypasses-governors-veto-to-claim-oklahomas-sovereignty/article/3366762

[G27]

This is great news - contact your representatives and Bredesen's office and let them know you support this action!

[TGO David]

So tell me exactly what this accomplishes?

[G27]

IMO, it's the first step towards reviving the 10th Amendment. If enough states are willing to grow a pair and tell the feds to back off, we may see some real change wrt the abuse of power we've seen for the last 100+ from the feds...

A constitutional America is a good thing.

[TGO David]

Oh, I agree that a return to our Constitutional roots is good... I just don't really see what we are accomplishing with this. Maybe it's just the eternal pessimist in me.

[GLOCKMEISTER]

it makes people feel warm and fuzzy... thats about it IMHO. My forefathers wore grey uniforms and gripped about the same things and stood up for their states rights... it didnt help them any, did it?

Again Im all for it, just not too sure what good it will actually do.

[TGO David]

Well, that's pretty much why I am pessimistic about this. Aside from being a waste of tax payer dollars to pay our legislators to sit around and push this through the system, this affirmation has no teeth.

The southern states were unable to secede from the Union and they are far more organized. Does anyone really think that a modern US State could possibly secede? It just won't happen. Period.

[texfrazer]

I don't think this has anything to do with secession. Granted, it won't necessarily change any of the federal actions.

However, if things like this don't go through on a state level, then there's very little recourse when the federal government decides to erode our Constitutional rights. With something like this passed, it allows it to be challenged (or allows for a federal act to be challenged by the state) and gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to either affirm the 10th Amendment or to strike it down.

Then, we'll see if it has teeth.

[G27]

It's not about secession - it's about affirming our rights. I see it as an extension of the Tea Parties - an attempt to let the fed gov know they've overstepped their bounds for too long.

It will take baby steps to move back to where we're supposed to be - I suppose you'd prefer us just continue to allow the feds to waste more and more money and reduce our rights further?

[Guest NAC]

I agree with crimsonaudio. To add though:

They do nothing, we complain they don't protect our constitutional rights. They finally do something to represent our constitutional rights and we are going to be pessimistic and say it's probably not going to do anything?

Your right, Tennessee alone won't change **** in the federal government, but it's a start in the right direction.

Also, with as much money federal government wastes on "the study of homosexual couples", the cost it took for the State senate to unanimously make a 31-0 desicion pales in comparison.

I know I am new here so let me make my disclaimer : This is not directed to any particular member of TGO. It it merely my position based on responses I've read through this and other forums.

[Guest cjames38464]

AMEN...the good thing about Tennessee passing this is that we are not the only state and others will follow suit....

NAC...Love the disclaimer...

[Mike.357]

anything that gets the man to start removing his foot from my neck is alright with me.

I wish the thing has some teeth to it. If everyone stopped willingly sending in taxes it would get someones attention too.

[mcurrier]

Ain't the Constitution/Bill o' Rights troublesome....for the Federal Gov.

yeah, what can you do...damn constitution, always getting in the way!

[mcurrier]

So tell me exactly what this accomplishes?

It keeps the King of England outa your face!

(ignore the fact that that doesn't make any sense, it's just funny)

[Punisher84]

At some point someone has to stand up and say "Enough". If doing things like this start us on that track, then I say we stand behind it. Otherwise sit down, shut up, and get the **** outta the way. Just my hostile, bad day, tired of the BS federal government, tired of people, tired of the state of the world, worn out opinion.

[Guest smithandwesson]

It's not about secession - it's about affirming our rights. I see it as an extension of the Tea Parties - an attempt to let the fed gov know they've overstepped their bounds for too long.

It will take baby steps to move back to where we're supposed to be - I suppose you'd prefer us just continue to allow the feds to waste more and more money and reduce our rights further?

+100

As long as they never have any kind of resistance, they will keep doing whatever they want. This is a good first step.