North Dakota House Passes HR59 for State Sovereignty
Posted on April 10th, 2009 by David-Crockett
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On April 7, 2009, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed House Concurrent Resolution 59 (HR59) “affirming North Dakota’s sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and to demand the federal government halt its practice of assuming powers and imposing mandates on the states for purposes not enumerated in the Constitution of the United States.”
The final vote tally was 52-40. See the votes here.
Here’s some excerpt text of the resolution:
A concurrent resolution affirming North Dakota’s sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and to demand the federal government halt its practice of assuming powers and imposing mandates on the states for purposes not enumerated in the Constitution of the United States.
WHEREAS, the 10th 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 10th 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 10th Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and
WHEREAS, in 2009 the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and
WHEREAS, many powers assumed by the federal government and federal mandates are directly in violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the 10th 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, the United States Supreme Court 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF NORTH DAKOTA, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN: That the Sixty-first Legislative Assembly affirms this state’s sovereignty under the 10th 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 demands the federal government halt its practice of assuming powers and imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated in the Constitution of the United States
