On April 6, 2009, the Alaska House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed House Joint Resolution 27 (HJR27) which “claims sovereignty for the state 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”
The final vote was 37-0, with 3 not voting. Here’s the tally. (h/t Tom Mortensen)
Read the full text of the resolution below:
WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads,
“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 some federal actions weaken states’ rights protected by 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 art. IV, sec. 4, Constitution of the United States, reads, “The United
States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,” and
the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads, “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 the United States Congress may not simply commandeer the
legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and
WHEREAS all states, including Alaska, find themselves regularly facing proposals
from the United States Congress that weaken states’ rights protected by the Tenth
Amendment;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature hereby claims sovereignty for
the state 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, as our agent, 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 requires states to pass
legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.
COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of
the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and
President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S.
Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska
delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 111th United States Congress.
