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SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
3United States specifically provides that, "The powers not
4delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
5prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
6respectively, or to the people"; and
 
7    WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of
8federal power as being those powers specifically granted to it
9by the Constitution of the United States and nothing more; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Federalism is the constitutional division of
11powers between the national and state governments and is widely
12regarded as one of America's most valuable contributions to
13political science; and
 
14    WHEREAS, James Madison, the "father of the Constitution",
15said, "The powers delegated to the federal government are few
16and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments
17are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised
18principally on external objects, [such] as war, peace,
19negotiation, and foreign commerce. ... The powers reserved to
20the several states will extend to all the objects which, in the
21ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and
22properties of the people"; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson emphasized that the states are
2not "subordinate" to the national government, but rather the
3two are "coordinate departments of one simple and integral
4whole. ... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign
5branch of the same government"; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Alexander Hamilton expressed his hope that "the
7people ... will always take care to preserve the constitutional
8equilibrium between the general and the state governments." He
9believed that "this balance between the national and state
10governments ... forms a double security to the people. If one
11[government] encroaches on their rights, they will find a
12powerful protection in the other. Indeed, they will both be
13prevented from overpassing their constitutional limits, by
14[the] certain rivalship, which will ever subsist between them";
15and
 
16    WHEREAS, The scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment
17means that the federal government was created by the states
18specifically to be limited in its powers relative to those of
19the various states; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Today, the states are demonstrably treated as
21agents of the federal government; many federal mandates are
22directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the

 

 

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1Constitution of the United States; and
 
2    WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New
3York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress
4may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory
5processes of the states; and
 
6    WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous
7administrations and some now being considered by the present
8administration and from Congress may further violate the
9Constitution of the United States; therefore, be it
 
10    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL
11ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we hereby claim
12sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of
13the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and
14granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the
15United States; and be it further
 
16    RESOLVED, That this resolution serve as a notice and demand
17to the federal government to maintain the balance of powers
18established by the Constitution of the United States and to
19cease and desist, effective immediately, any and all mandates
20that are beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated
21powers; and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
2presented to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the
3United States, the President of the United States Senate, the
4Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President pro
5tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
6Representatives of each state's legislature in the United
7States, and to each member of the Illinois congressional
8delegation.