Resolution to Congress and the United States Supreme Court.

WORKING DRAFT
2011
STATE OF
WYOMING
11LSO-0444

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
NO.
HJ0003

Resolution to
Congress and the
United States
Supreme Court
.

Sponsored by:
Representative(s) Childers,
Buchanan,
Jaggi, Krone, McOmie and Shepperson and Senator(s) Case, Coe and
Jennings

A BILL

for

A JOINT RESOLUTION demanding Congress cease and desist from enacting mandates beyond the enumerated powers granted to the Congress by
the United States Constitution;
calling on Congress to
amend the tenth amendment and the interstate commerce clause in article 1, section 8 of the United States Constitution so as to restrict the
egregious
encroachmen
t on state
s
'
rights through federal legislation and federal court decisions
; and demanding that the United States Supreme Court refrain from issuing decisions which impermissibly expand federal power or restrict individual rights
.

WHEREAS, the tenth 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 tenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States 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 the power defined by the tenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and

WHEREAS, the states, through enactment of federal legislation and federal court decisions,
are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and

WHEREAS, the tenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States 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, many powers assumed by the federal governm
ent and
federal mandates
, and upheld by
the federal courts
,
are directly in violation of the tenth amendment to the United States Constitution; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court and the lower federal courts have upheld federal laws as constitutional exercises of Congressional authority which
egregiously
encroach and unconstitutionally contract sta
tes' rights in direct contradiction to
the t
enth amendment in such cases as
Helvering v. Davis
, 301 U.S. 619 (U.S. 1937)
; and

WHEREAS, the interstate commerce clause in article 1, section 8 of the Constitution of the
United States
provides that Congress shall have the power: "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with Indian Tribes;" and

WHEREAS, the interstate commerce clause is limited to the federal government regulating trade between the states and between the states and other nations, to help prevent conflicts between states over commercial activities and to prevent the erection of barriers to commerce between the states; and

WHEREAS, the interstate commerce clause should not be used to provide Congress with authority to regulate matters that are primarily intrastate with only an insignificant or collateral effect upon interstate commerce; and

WHEREAS, many federal laws are beyond the scope and intent of
the interstate commerce clause
to the Constitution of the
United States
; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court and the lower federal courts have upheld federal laws as constitutional exercises of Congressional
authority
under the interstate commerce clause when those federal laws clearly exceeded the limited scope of the interstate co
mmerce clause in such cases as
Wickard
v.
Filburn,
317 U.S. 111
(1942
) and
United States
v. Carolene Products Co.
, 304
U.S.
144 (
U.S.
1938
); and

WHEREAS, article 1, section 1 of the Constitution of the United States mandates that "[a]ll legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States…"; and

WHEREAS, Congress has violated the provisions of
article 1, section 1 of the Constitution of the
United States
by unlawfully delegating their legislative authority to enact laws to federal agencies; and

WHEREAS,
the United States Supreme Court and the lower federal courts have upheld federal laws which unlawfully delegate Congress's authority to enact laws to federal agencies in violation of
article 1, section 1 of the Constitution of the United States in
such cases as
Whitman
v.
American Trucking Assns.
, Inc.
, 531 U.S. 457
(2001)
;
and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court and the lower federal courts have impermissibly upheld laws
and actions
which violate an American citizen's right to bear arms as guaranteed by the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States in such cases as
United States
v.
Miller
, 307 U.S.
174
(
1939)
; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court and the lower federal courts have upheld laws
and actions
which
impermissibly impaired a private individual's obligations under a contract in direct violation of the contract clause of article 1
,
section 10 of the Constitution of the United States in such cases as
Home Building & Loan Assn.
v.
Blaisdell
, 290 U.S. 398 (1934)
; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court and the lower federal courts have upheld laws and actions which unc
onstitutionally encroach on
private property rights
without
due process and just compensation in violation of the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States in such cases as
Kelo v. City of New London
, 545 U.S. 469
(
2005)

and
Penn Central Transport.
Co.
v.
New York City
,
438
U.S.
104
(1978)
; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court and the lower federal courts have upheld laws and actions which unconstitutionally seize private property without due process of law in violation of the fourth, fifth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States in such cases as
Bennis
v.
Michigan
,
516 U.S. 442 (
1996)
; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court and the lower federal courts have upheld laws and actions which unconstitutionally deny an individual equal protection of the laws based on that individual
'
s race or ethnicity
in violation of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment in such cases as
Grutter
v.
Bollinger
, 539 U.S. 306 (2003)
; and

WHEREAS, Congress may not
commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states
,
and the
United States Supreme Court and the lower
federal courts may not
simply turn a blind eye to the
unconstitutional expansion of federal power
and restriction of
individual rights
.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF
WYOMING
:

Section 1.

That the Wyoming Congressional delegation and Congress take action to initiate the amendment process provided by article 5 of the Constitution of the United States to amend the tenth amendment and article 1, section 8 (the interstate commerce clause) of the Constitution of the United States.

Section 2.

That Congress amend the tenth amendment of the Constitution of the
United States
as follows, with proposed changes indicated in underscored text:

The powers not
expressly
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.
This amendment shall be considered by all courts as a rule of interpretation and construction in any case involving an interpretation of any constitutional power claimed by the Congress.

Section 3.

That Congress amend the interstate commerce clause, article 1
,
section 8 of the Constitution of the
United States
as follows, with proposed changes indicated in underscored text:

To
directly
regulate Commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian Tribes
,
with no authority in Congress to regulate matters that are primarily intrastate with only an insignificant or collateral effect upon interstate commerce
;

Section 4.

That Congress shall specify that the amendments to the tenth amendment and
the interstate commerce clause, article 1
,
section 8 of the Constitution of the United States, as provided herein, shall be operative upon ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, provided that such ratification shall occur within seven years from the date of the submission of the amendments to the states by Congress.

Section 5
.

That this state calls on its costates for an expression of their sentiments on the need to amend the tenth amendment and article 1, section 8 of the Constitution of the
United States
and that the United States Supreme Court refrain from
issuing decisions which impermissibly expand federal power or restrict individual rights;
as provided in this resolution.

Section 6.

That the United States Supreme Court shall refrain from issuing decisions which impermissibly expand federal power or restrict individual rights, as provided herein, and that the Court shall seek to reverse prior decisions which impermissibly expanded federal power or restricted individual rights at the earliest possible opportunity.

Section 7
.

(a)

That the Secretary of State of Wyoming transmit copies of this resolution:

(
i
)

To the President of the United States, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress and to the Wyoming Congressional Delegation, with a request tha
t
the Wyoming Congressional
D
elegation take all reasonable and necessary actions to initiate the amendment process to amend the Constitution of the United States consistent with the language proposed in this resolution and that
this resolution be officially entered in the congressional record as a memorial to the Congress of the
United States of America;

(ii)

To the clerk of the United States Supreme Court with instructions that the resolution shall be distributed to all justices currently serving on the United States Supreme Court; and

(ii
i
)

To the
S
peaker of the
H
ouse of
R
epresentatives and
P
resident of the
S
enate, or their equivalent, and the
G
overnor of each of the other forty-nine states.

(END)

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