Full Text of SR0045 97th General Assembly
SR0045 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the | 3 | | United States specifically provides that, "The powers not | 4 | | delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor | 5 | | prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States | 6 | | respectively, or to the people"; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of | 8 | | federal power as being those powers specifically granted to it | 9 | | by the Constitution of the United States and nothing more; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Federalism is the constitutional division of | 11 | | powers between the national and state governments and is widely | 12 | | regarded as one of America's most valuable contributions to | 13 | | political science; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, James Madison, the "father of the Constitution", | 15 | | said, "The powers delegated to the federal government are few | 16 | | and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments | 17 | | are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised | 18 | | principally on external objects, [such] as war, peace, | 19 | | negotiation, and foreign commerce. ... The powers reserved to | 20 | | the several states will extend to all the objects which, in the | 21 | | ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and | 22 | | properties of the people"; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson emphasized that the states are | 2 | | not "subordinate" to the national government, but rather the | 3 | | two are "coordinate departments of one simple and integral | 4 | | whole. ... The one is the domestic, the other the foreign | 5 | | branch of the same government"; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Alexander Hamilton expressed his hope that "the | 7 | | people ... will always take care to preserve the constitutional | 8 | | equilibrium between the general and the state governments." He | 9 | | believed that "this balance between the national and state | 10 | | governments ... forms a double security to the people. If one | 11 | | [government] encroaches on their rights, they will find a | 12 | | powerful protection in the other. Indeed, they will both be | 13 | | prevented from overpassing their constitutional limits, by | 14 | | [the] certain rivalship, which will ever subsist between them"; | 15 | | and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment | 17 | | means that the federal government was created by the states | 18 | | specifically to be limited in its powers relative to those of | 19 | | the various states; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Today, the states are demonstrably treated as | 21 | | agents of the federal government;
many federal mandates are | 22 | | directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the |
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| 1 | | Constitution of the United States; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New | 3 | | York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress | 4 | | may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory | 5 | | processes of the states; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous | 7 | | administrations and some now being considered by the present | 8 | | administration and from Congress may further violate the | 9 | | Constitution of the United States; therefore, be it
| 10 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | 11 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we hereby claim | 12 | | sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of | 13 | | the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and | 14 | | granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the | 15 | | United States; and be it further
| 16 | | RESOLVED, That this resolution serve as a notice and demand | 17 | | to the federal government to maintain the balance of powers | 18 | | established by the Constitution of the United States and to | 19 | | cease and desist, effective immediately, any and all mandates | 20 | | that are beyond the scope of its constitutionally delegated | 21 | | powers; and be it further |
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 2 | | presented to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the | 3 | | United States, the President of the United States Senate, the | 4 | | Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President pro | 5 | | tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of | 6 | | Representatives of each state's legislature in the United | 7 | | States, and to each member of the Illinois congressional | 8 | | delegation.
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