Author: 10th Amendment Center

by Tenth Amendment As nobody before, Thomas Paine stirred ordinary people to defend their liberty. He wrote the three top-selling literary works of the eighteenth century, which inspired the American Revolution, issued a historic battle cry for individual rights, and challenged the corrupt power of government churches. His radical vision and dramatic, plainspoken style connected with artisans, servants, soldiers, merchants, farmers, and laborers alike. Paine’s work breathes fire to this day. His devastating attacks on tyranny compare with the epic thrusts of Voltaire and Jonathan Swift, but unlike these authors, there wasn’t a drop of cynicism in Paine. He was always earnest in the pursuit of liberty. He was confident that free people would fulfill their destiny. He provoked expl...

by Mike Maharrey The anti-commandeering doctrine provides a powerful tool to undermine overreaching, unconstitutional federal power. So, what is this doctrine? What is it based upon? And how can it be used as an effective tool for liberty? How Do We Confront Federal Overreach? Most people assume the feds have the final say. When Uncle Sam says jump, states and local government simply ask, “How high?” But given that the federal government was intended to limit its actions to constitutionally delegated powers and all other authority was left “to the states and the people” per the Tenth Amendment, how do we hold the federal government in check? How do we stop it from exercising powers not delegated? This isn’t a new question. In fact, those skeptical of the Constitution raised it...

by Mike Maharrey ALBANY, N.Y. (Jan. 14, 2021) – A bill introduced in the New York Senate would create a process to sue police officers in state court for using excessive force or taking other actions that violate individual rights without the possibility of “qualified immunity” as a defense. Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) introduced Senate Bill 1050 (S1050) on Jan. 6. The legislation would create a cause of action in state courts to sue police officers who “under the color of law, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the federal or state constitution or laws, or whose exercise or enjoyment of those rights, privileges or immunities has been interfered with or attempted t...

by  jprivate Are American’s ready for a national United States Postal Service (USPS) biometric criminal background check program? What initially started out as an employee criminal background screener program has morphed into a biometric criminal background check program for the public. In 2019, the USPS innocuously began installing fingerprint scanners in post offices so they could scan potential employees. The USPS used fingerprint scanners and the National Agency Check with Inquiries (NACI) to conduct in-depth background checks. “NACI investigations are conducted for all newly hired employees as part of the post-hiring process. Based on the NACI results, the Postal Service makes a final suitability determination and the employee is either retained or separated. During the h...

by Laurence M. Vance According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a crisis (plural: crises) is: 1a: the turning point for better or worse in an acute disease or feverb: a paroxysmal attack of pain, distress, or disordered functionc: an emotionally significant event or radical change of status in a person’s life; a midlife crisis2: the decisive moment (as in a literary plot); The crisis of the play occurs in Act 3.3a: an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially: one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome; a financial crisis, the nation’s energy crisisb: a situation that has reached a critical phase; the environmental crisis, the unemployment crisis And likewise in other dictionaries. The Constitution...

by Mike Maharrey Nullification skeptics will often argue that the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 weren’t actually proposing nullification. They base their argument on the fact that John Breckinridge removed specific references to nullification from Jefferson’s draft before he introduced it in the Kentucky House. But evidence from the debates in the House reveals that the resolutions were absolutely intended to set the stage for nullification and all of the representatives who voted to pass them knew it. In his original draft, Jefferson specifically asserted a state’s right to “nullify” unconstitutional acts. “Therefore this commonwealth is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are, to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on ea...

by Laurence M. Vance After initially threatening to veto it, Donald Trump signed into law a $2.3 trillion, 5,593-page spending bill that no member of Congress had read. The “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021” (H.R.133), which is a combination of twelve annual funding bills, COVID-19 relief, and pounds and pounds of pork, passed the House in two separate votes of 327-85 and 359-53. The first vote was on appropriations for the federal departments of Commerce, Justice, Defense, Treasury, and Homeland Security, and some federal components, including the White House and the District of Columbia. The second vote included appropriations for the remainder of the federal government as well as coronavirus stimulus and relief and many other miscellaneous provisions. The bill pass...

by Sam Jacobs “I see the liberty of the individual not only as a great moral good in itself (or, with Lord Acton, as the highest political good), but also as the necessary condition for the flowering of all the other goods that mankind cherishes: moral virtue, civilization, the arts and sciences, economic prosperity. Out of liberty, then, stem the glories of civilized life.” – Murray Rothbard The terms “freedom” and “liberty” have become clichés in modern political parlance. Because these words are invoked so much by politicians and their ilk, their meanings are almost synonymous and used interchangeably. That’s confusing – and can be dangerous – because their definitions are actually quite different. “Freedom” is predominantly an internal construct. Viktor Frankl, the legendary ...

by Judge Andrew Napolitano Since the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the determination of President Donald Trump to fill her Supreme Court seat before Election Day with the traditionalist Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the concept of court packing has reared its head. The phrase “court packing” is a derogatory reference to legislation that alters the number of seats on the Supreme Court to alter its perceived ideological makeup. The origins of modern court packing are from the depression era when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sought to expand the court from nine to 15 by adding a new justice for every sitting justice who declined to retire upon reaching his 70th birthday. FDR offered the plan in the spring of 1937, shortly after he was inaugurated to his second...

by Michael Boldin If you’ve been following our work here at the TAC, you’ll often see articles, videos, quotes, posts – about the dangers of centralization of power. In fact, it might be one of the most common themes – both here and from the Founding Generation. That’s why the Constitution itself was very likely to fail ratification until deals were made in places like Massachusetts and elsewhere – that an amendment would be added in the near future to reaffirm the principle that all powers not expressly delegated would remain with the states or the people. That, of course, became the 10th Amendment, which Thomas Jefferson called “the foundation of the Constitution.” Even supporters of ratification regularly acknowledged the dangers of centralization – what they referred to as...