This morning, legislators from the state of Minnesota introduced HF No. 997, with the following description:
“Federal government memorialized to halt its practice of imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States and affirming Minnesota’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. “
There are 16 co-authors to the bill, and you can find more details here.
Read the full text:
1.1A resolution
1.2memorializing the federal government to halt its practice of imposing mandates upon
1.3the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States and
1.4affirming Minnesota’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of
1.5the United States.
1.6WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as
1.7follows: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it
1.8to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people;” and
1.9WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that
1.10specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and
1.11WHEREAS, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal
1.12government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and
1.13WHEREAS, today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal
1.14government; and
1.15WHEREAS, many federal mandates are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment
1.16to the Constitution of the United States; and
1.17WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 112
1.18S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory
1.19processes of the states; and
1.20WHEREAS, a number of proposals from previous administrations and some now pending
1.21from the present administration and from Congress may further violate the Constitution of the
1.22United States; NOW, THEREFORE,
2.1BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the President
2.2and the Congress of the United States to halt the federal government’s practice of imposing
2.3mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States,
2.4and that it affirms Minnesota’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
2.5United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by
2.6the Constitution of the United States.
2.7BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is
2.8directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United
2.9States, the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of
2.10the United States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary,
2.11the chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, and Minnesota’s Senators and Representatives
2.12in Congress.