Alabama to Consider Sovereignty under the 10th Amendment
11. Aug, 2009 
18 Comments
by Michael Boldin
On August 10, 2009, Alabama State Representative Mac Gipson along with 22 other co-sponsors, introduced House Joint Resolution 10 (HJR10). The purpose of the resolution is to “affirm the rights of all states including Alabama, based on the provisions of the ninth and tenth amendments to the United States Constitution.”
HJR10 was introduced on the first day of the Alabama Legislature’s 2009 First Special Session. An Extraordinary (Special) Session can consist of no more than 12 Legislative (meeting) days, within a 30-day calendar period.
The resolution was read and referred to the House of Representatives committee on Rules. Two similar resolutions were previously introduced in the Alabama 2009 session, but neither were brought to a floor vote.
If HJR10 passes both houses of the legislature, Alabama would be the eighth state to pass a resolution affirming sovereignty under the 10th Amendment, joining Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Similar resolutions have been introduced in thirty-seven states in the past year.
While the resolution is not legally binding, supporters say it’s an important first step to “serve notice” to the federal government that it’s exercising powers not delegated to it by the People in the Constitution. They say that state-level nullification of federal laws is the next step, and efforts have already begun on this in a number of states.
Montana and Tennessee, for example, have passed laws exempting people of their state from certain federal firearms regulations. In 2010, Arizona voters will have the option of approving a state constitutional amendment that would effectively ban a future national health care plan in the state. Similar laws and amendments are being considered in states across the country.
Read the Full Text of House Joint Resolution 10 below:
WHEREAS, the Alabama Legislature declares that the people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent state, and shall exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right pertaining thereto, which is not expressly delegated by them to the United States of America in the Congress assembled; and
WHEREAS, some states when ratifying the Constitution for the United States of America recommended as a change, “that it be explicitly declared that all powers not expressly and particularly delegated by the aforesaid are reserved to the several states to be by them exercised”; and
WHEREAS, these recommended changes were incorporated as the Ninth Amendment, where the enumeration of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people, and as the Tenth Amendment, where 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 several states of the United States of America, through the Constitution and the amendments thereto, constituted a general government for special purposes and delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving each state to itself, the residuary right to their own self government; now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA, BOTH HOUSES THEREOF CONCURRING, That based on the above principles and provisions, we hereby declare by this resolution, that any act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States, or Judicial Order by the federal courts which assumes a power not delegated to the government of the United States of America by the Constitution and which serves to diminish the liberty of any of the several states or their citizens shall abridge the Constitution. We further declare that acts which would cause such an abridgement include, but are not limited to, each of the following:
(1) Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within one of the states comprising the United States of America without the consent of the legislature of that state.
(2) Requiring involuntary servitude, or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.
(3) Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of eighteen other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.
(4) Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government.
(5) Any act regarding religion, further limitations on freedom of political speech, or further limitations on freedom of the press.
(6) Further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution shall be forwarded to the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and each member of the Alabama Congressional Delegation.
Copyright © 2009 by TenthAmendmentCenter.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
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Kudos to those legislators standing up for the people, and the constitution! And thanks to our grassroots and media director, Bryce Shonka, for the h/t on the story.
If anyone hears of this coming for a floor vote, please contact us so we can report it asap!
Also, if you live in AL, now is the time to get on the phone to your state reps to ask that they support this resolution.
I really like some of the language in this bill! We’ll see if it comes to a vote during the special session.
Someone needs to tell the Alabama legislator that the first line: “WHEREAS, the Alabama Legislature declares that the people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent state, and shall exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right pertaining thereto, which is not expressly delegated by them to the United States of America in the Congress assembled; and”
Is factually incorrect in that the powers of the Federal government (and thus Congress) are not expressly delegated by them to the United States of America in the United States congress assembled but rather expressly delegated by them to the United States Federal government in the ratification of the United States Constitution.
This is an extremely important distinction as their resolution would read to allow congress to declare the limits of their own authority over the people of Alabama. This is of course simply not the case, nor clearly what is meant, as Congress’s limited powers are defined by the United States Constitution, and consented to by the State(and people) of Alabama in their ratification of the United States Constitution.
That means Congress’s legitimate powers over them cannot be change without an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States as described in Article 5 of the United States Constitution. Such powers cannot be changed by the mere legislative whim of Congress or the U.S. Supreme court.
Monorprise, I don’t see this resolution as allowing congress to determine the extent of their own power, but you are undoubtedly right that state resolutions do need to be constitutionally correct. In fact, the first line here makes it clear that the people are sovereign – and thus, under the principles of popular sovereignty, all powers not delegated, are retained.
We’ve recently posted our own “Tenth Amendment Center-approved Sovereignty Resolution” We do hope that people will send it to their reps and ask them to introduce it.
Find it here:
http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/10th-amendment-resolution/
Hmm… Nothing on there about government’s infringement on marriage. But I guess we don’t want freedom for everyone, just those people we agree with.
Important to note – the federal government, under the constitution – has no say in marriage, health care, education and a lot of other things they’ve been doing. These important issues are best left close to home.
Why can;t any of this be found in a search of the news? Why are the Alabama papers not reporting on this, at least? Or are they?
At this point, it doesn’t surprise me that this isn’t being covered, locally, or nationally. It’s important for people like you to get on the horn – calling not only state reps to vote for it, but every local news service and asking them to cover it too.
Hey, Marriage shouldn’t be a legislative issue! Look in the Bible. Marriage is an institution created by God for Man & Woman. It’s time to clean America up. Or ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION!!!!!! DO away with the Federal Government. Scrap and replace the constitution. Lets make it where like it was before the constitution. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION!!!!!
Jason, I’m with you in saying it would be best to keep government out of the marriage business altogether. As far as the constitution goes, though – the federal government has no authority.
It’s up to the people of each state to determine how they want it dealt with in their home states. Maybe one state will take the lead and stop issuing government permission slips for marriage?
Absolutely meaningless if they don’t actually start saying “NO” to the federal government. Perhaps they can follow Arizona’s lead on nullifiying Obamacare should it pass.
http://www.azhealthcarefreedomact.com/
1> I am glad to allow the state of Alabama all of the freedom to govern itself in a state of emergency where martial law would be declared. You want to be sovereign and not depend on the federal government for anything? good luck taking care of yourself when a real problem arises.
5> Because your religion says you are right and that gives you the ability and right to discriminate against others. Of course this is exactly what our forefathers meant by a separation of government and religion…
6> You know, everyone should have a right to bear arms. It seems it’s only those who are so scared of everyone else that feel they need to defend themselves with ridiculously overpowered automatic rifles and other weapons intended for use in warfare. Sure, tell me it’s for sport and therefore should be protected but we all know the truth.
I’d love for Alabama and its buddies to become truly sovereign states. The country would be a lot better off since when it comes to the federal budget and taxes, you folks are takers, not givers – you get a lot more in tax money from the federal government than you pay.
And of course since you all don’t want any national health care plan, you’ve gotta give up Medicare, and the VA, and Medicaid, and stuff like the Centers for Disease Control, and all the medical research going on in your universities, because folks, that’s all federal money.
The rest of us could save a lot of the money we give your schools too, since it don’t seem to be doing any good anyway, given the reputation you all are giving yourselves.
Oh, and you’d have to give up all our federal military bases and other federal installations – oh, like all that stuff going on at Huntsville, for example? And given how much all y’all love your violence, we’d be sure to get all the nukes and chemical weapons out of there, too.
It’s sounding better and better to me. Let’em secede. See how you like it. I know I would. We’d be a lot richer, more peaceful, and more free. We’ll just sit back and laugh as you all thrive under the leadership of geniuses like Joe Wilson and Trent Lott and Bobby Jindal, oh, and that cute li’l Jeff Sessions.