The 10th Amendment Movement
by Michael Boldin
by Michael Boldin
Recently
by Michael Boldin: Wyoming
Legislature Passes the Firearms Freedom Act
“If the
federal government has the exclusive right to judge the extent of
its own powers, warned the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions’
authors (James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, respectively), it will
continue to grow – regardless of elections, the separation
of powers, and other much-touted limits on government power.”
–Thomas E. Woods
The 10th Amendment
Movement is an effort to push back against unconstitutional federal
laws and regulations on a state level. The principle is known as
“nullification,” and was advised by many prominent founders.
Current
Nullification Efforts:
Potential
Future Efforts:
- Patriot
Act
- No Child
Left Behind
- State-Initiated
Constitutional Amendments
History
of Nullification: While the media generally portrays nullification
as being solely aligned with the efforts of the nullifiers of the
South and the Civil War, this is certainly false, and reeks of misinformation.
Nullification has a long history in the American tradition and has
been invoked in support of free speech, in opposition to war and
fugitive slave laws, and more. Read more on this history here.
10th
Amendment Resolutions
These non-binding resolutions, often called “state sovereignty
resolutions” do no carry the force of law. Instead, they are
intended to be a statement of the legislature of the state. They
play an important role, however. If you owned an apartment building
and had a tenant not paying rent, you wouldn’t show up with
an empty truck to kick them out without first serving notice. That’s
how we view these Resolutions – as serving “notice and
demand” to the Federal Government to “cease and desist
any and all activities outside the scope of their constitutionally-delegated
powers.” Follow-up, of course, is a must.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT 10TH AMENDMENT RESOLUTIONS
10th
Amendment Bills
Unlike the many 10th Amendment Resolutions that have been introduced
around the country since 2008, these “10th Amendment”
or “State Sovereignty” bills are proposals for binding
legislation. They include language to affirm the sovereignty of
the people of the state and to create a commission or a committee
to review the Constitutionality of acts emanating from the federal
government.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT 10TH AMENDMENT BILLS
Firearms
Freedom Act
Originally introduced and passed in Montana, the FFA declares that
any firearms made and retained in-state are beyond the authority
of Congress under its constitutional power to regulate commerce
among the states. The FFA is primarily a Tenth Amendment challenge
to the powers of Congress under the “commerce clause,”
with firearms as the object. (source, FirearmsFreedomAct.com)
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT FIREARMS FREEDOM ACT LEGISLATION
Medical
Marijuana Laws
An honest reading of the Constitution with an original understanding
of the Founders and Ratifiers makes it quite clear that the federal
government has no constitutional authority to override state laws
on marijuana. All three branches of the federal government, however,
have interpreted (and re-interpreted) the commerce clause of the
Constitution to authorize them to engage in this activity, even
though there’s supposedly no “legal” commerce in
the plant. At best, these arguments are dubious; at worst an intentional
attack on the Constitution and your liberty.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT STATE MARIJUANA LAWS
REAL
ID Act
Led by Maine in early 2007, 25 states over the past 2 years have
passed resolutions and binding laws denouncing and refusing the
implement the Bush-era law which many expressed concerned about
privacy, funding and more. While the law is still on the books in
D.C., its implementation has been “delayed” numerous times
in response to this massive state resistance, and in practice, is
virtually null and void.
CLICK
HERE FOR ANTI-REAL ID LEGISLATION
Health
Care
Like Marijuana above, a reading of the Constitution through the
original understanding of the Founders and Ratifiers makes it quite
clear that any national health care plan, or national public option,
is not something that was delegated by the People to the Federal
Government in the Constitution. However, the courts, politicians
and many commentators have interpreted (and re-interpreted) the
Commerce Clause, the general Welfare Clause and Necessary and Proper
Clause in ways not intended by the Founders so as to justify such
programs under the Constitution. They are most certainly wrong.
A number of states are considering legislation to effectively nullify
any future national health care plan.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT HEALTH CARE NULLIFICATION LEGISLATION
Bring
the Guard Home
Under the Constitution, the militia (now called the National Guard)
may only be called into duty by the federal government in three
specific situations. According to Article I, Section 8; Clause 15,
the Congress is given the power to pass laws for “calling forth
the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections
and repel Invasions.” The militia was intended by the Founders
and Ratifiers to be defense force and nothing more. Deployments
outside the country were not considered, and neither were internal
deployments in pursuance of powers that were not delegated to the
federal government. Congress has passed numerous laws in the past
100 years giving the federal government additional authority not
mentioned in the Constitution. But, without amendment, altering
the enumerated powers by legislative fiat is, in and of itself,
unconstitutional. Campaigns in states around the country are working
to reassert the authority of governors over guard troops.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT BRING THE GUARD HOME LEGISLATION
Constitutional
Tender
The United States Constitution declares, in Article I, Section 10,
“No State shall… make any Thing but gold and silver Coin
a Tender in Payment of Debts.” Constitutional Tender laws seek
to nullify federal legal tender laws in the state by authorizing
payment in gold and silver or a paper note backed 100% by gold or
silver,
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT CONSTITUTIONAL TENDER LEGISLATION
Cap
and Trade
Cap and Trade is often claimed to be authorized under the Commerce
Clause of the Constitution. At best, this is a highly dubious claim.
This interstate regulation of “commerce” did not include
agriculture, manufacturing, mining, or land use. Nor did it include
activities that merely “substantially affected” commerce.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT CAP AND TRADE NULLIFICATION LEGISLATION
State
Sovereignty and Federal Tax Funds Act
Such laws would require that all federal taxes come first to the
state’s Department of Revenue. A panel of legislators would
assay the Constitutional appropriateness of the Federal Budget,
and then forward to the federal government a percentage of the federal
tax dollars that are delineated as legal and Constitutionally-justified.
The remainder of those dollars would be assigned to budgetary items
that are currently funded through federal allocations and grants
or returned to the people of the state.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT FEDERAL TAX FUNDS LEGISLATION
Sheriffs
First Legislation
A “Sheriffs First” bill would make it a state crime for
any federal agent to make an arrest, search, or seizure within the
state without first getting the advanced, written permission of
the elected county sheriff of the county in which the event is to
take place.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT SHERIFFS FIRST LEGISLATION
Federal
Gun Laws Nullification
As codified in law with the 2nd Amendment, the People did not delegate
the power to regulate or control the ownership of firearms to the
federal government. And, as the 10th Amendment makes clear, all
powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the
States or to the People themselves.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT FEDERAL GUN LAWS NULLIFICATION LEGISLATION
Nullification
of Federal Intrastate Commerce Regulation
As understood at the time of the founding, the regulation of commerce
was meant to empower Congress to regulate the buying and selling
of products made by others (and sometimes land), associated finance
and financial instruments, and navigation and other carriage, across
state jurisdictional lines. These bills attempt to reassert this
original meaning of the commerce clause over wide areas of policy
and effectively nullify federal laws and regulations that violate
such limitations by regulating commerce and other activities that
are solely intrastate.
CLICK
HERE FOR CURRENT INTRASTATE COMMERCE REGULATION NULLIFICATION LEGISLATION
This is
reprinted from the Tenth
Amendment Center.
March
15, 2010
Michael
Boldin [send him
mail] is the founder of the Tenth
Amendment Center.
Copyright
© 2010 Tenth Amendment
Center. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly
granted, provided full credit is given.
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