Considering the over reach of the Democrat Congress and the Obami many states are looking to remind the Federal Government the sovereignty of individual states. The latest egregious example is the ‘punish S.C. Governor Mark Sanford Amendment’ to the just passed Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (stimuless bill). This amendment is meant to force any governors who might not want partake in the Generational Theft Act by the Dhimmicrats. In January the Dhimmicrats and the Obami reauthorized and expanded the SCHIP program which will be a burden for states with more unfunded mandates.

From Michelle Malkin:

It’s an obvious end-run around the authority of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, the outspoken GOP fiscal conservative who has staunchly opposed the behemoth federal package.

Read it:

SEC. 1607. (a) CERTIFICATION BY GOVERNOR — Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, for funds provided to any State or agency thereof, the Governor of the State shall certify that: 1) the State request and use funds provided by this Act , and; 2) funds be used to create jobs and promote economic growth.

(b) ACCEPTANCE BY STATE LEGISLATURE — If funds provided to any State in any division of this Act are not accepted for use by the Governor, then acceptance by the State legislature, by means of the adoption of a concurrent resolution, shall be sufficient to provide funding to such State.

A number of states are looking to reclaim the 10th Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

Redstate has a posting on The New American Revolution!

Most informed citizens know the Bill of Rights has ten amendments; nowadays, though, not much attention is paid to the Tenth Amendment. You remember, the one that says,

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.

Most folks these days don’t know that’s in the Constitution—but then, to all intents and purposes, our government doesn’t either. (The same is true of the Ninth Amendment, which declares, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.�)

Now, however, we have the first sign in a very long time that that might be about to change. If Congress won’t recognize the proper sphere of sovereignty of the states, some of the states are thinking about standing up to claim it for themselves. States with bills on the books (From RS Comments):

* Washington – HJM4009 – 2009-10 first reading 01/30/09
* New Hampshire – HCR6 (2009) first public hearing 02/05/09
* Arizona – HCR2024 first reading 02/05/09; second reading 02/09/09; before gov’t committee 02/17/09
* Montana – HB246 (primarily relates to protection of firearms from federal regulation); introduced 01/13/09; referred to committee and first reading 01/14/09; committee hearing 01/22/09; amended bill passed committee 12-6 on 02/12/09
* Michigan – HCR0004 (2009) introduced and referred to committee 01/22/09
* Missouri – HR212 (in addition to usual declaration of sovereignty under 10th amendment, urges rejection of FOCA); offered 01/22/09; public hearing 02/04/09; bill no longer on calendar; replaced by HR294 (which is strictly a rejection of FOCA; adopted 02/11/09) and HCR 13 (sovereignty bill; last action was a public hearing on 02/10/09; may need public outcry to get it out of committee)
* Oklahoma – HJR1003 (similar to bill filed last year which passed House but was not considered in Senate); (due to an amazingly lousy government web site, I can’t find out anything more on this bill. The bill tracker has no listings for 2009; neither do the House and Senate calendars. If I were a citizen of this state I’d be making some phone calls.)
* California – SJR44 adopted in Senate 08/15/94; adopted in Assembly 08/23/94; filed with Secretary of State 08/29/94.
* Georgia – SR308 first read 03/10/95; looks like they never got this bill past the reading stage

The Republican Liberty Caucus also talks about reclamation efforts by states:

You may not have heard much about it, but there’s a quiet movement afoot to reassert state sovereignty and stop the uncontrolled expansion of federal government power. Almost half of the state legislatures are currently considering or have representatives preparing to introduce resolutions to reassert the principles of the 9th and 10th Amendments and the idea that federal power is strictly limited to specific areas detailed in the Constitution and that all other governmental authority rests with the states.

snip…..The text of the bill proposed in Arizona makes the clearest statement of the intent to block unfunded mandates:

“That this Resolution serves 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.�

and

“That all compulsory federal legislation that 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.

What this movement is most similar to is the Nullification Crisis of 1832 where the State of South Carolina asserted that it had the right to nullify the authority of federal laws within its borders. In this case the states are not asserting anything as broad as the Doctrine of Nullification, but are merely reasserting the limits which the 10th Amendment places on federal authority, specifically as it applies to spending, the idea being that they don’t have to pay for federal mandates if their legislators choose not to.

Congress is even over reaching into local government policing through the Dept of Homeland Security (from Free Republic/NYT):

Members of Congress asked the Justice and Homeland Security Departments on Friday to investigate accusations that the sheriff who presides over the Phoenix metropolitan area has engaged in a pattern of racial profiling and other abuses against Latino residents.

Four members of the House Judiciary Committee, including the chairman, John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, raised of concerns about the sheriff, Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County.

Sheriff Arpaio, a publicity magnet who is a hero to those who campaign against illegal immigration and a pariah to immigration advocates, brushed off the requests as political high jinks.

To many Dhimmicrats enforcing laws is racist. Members of the committee who think they should also be governing local government are Chairman John Conyers (MI), Zoe Lofgren (CA), Jerrold Nadler (NY) and Robert Scott (VA). These crack whores of Congress who are addicted to power think arresting criminals and jailing them is racist!

Guess these states better not wait too long though, the Dhimmicrats have already plunged the country into socialism and I figure we are at about stage 6 (out of 10). Their addiction to power has overwhelmed them and they know there’s still a whole year left for them to centralize the government and plunge the country into a decade long depression.

Barack Hussein Obama, Democrats, Generational Theft Act, Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009, HR1, Stimulus bill, socialism, states rights, Mark Sanford amendment, 10th Amendment, Sheriff Joe Arpaio

One Response to “State’s Rights”