Nevada and the Powers not Delegated

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On March16, 2009, a number of Nevada State Assemblymen introduced Assembly Joint Resolution 15 (AJR15) to claim sovereignty for the State of Nevada under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Here’s the full text:

ASSEMBLY JOINT RESOLUTION – Claiming sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

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”; 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 ensures 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, Section 4, Article IV, of the Constitution says, “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican Form of Government,” 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 people”; 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 ASSEMBLY AND SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, JOINTLY, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Nevada hereby claim 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; and be it further

RESOLVED, That this resolution serves as notice and demand to the Federal Government to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers; and be it further

RESOLVED, That all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly prepare and transmit a copy of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States as the presiding officer of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of the Nevada Congressional Delegation with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.