Free Republic

From the New York Times article, "Numbers Tell of Failure in Drug War the War on Peaceful Americans Who Voluntary Choose to Use Intoxicants Not Currently Approved of By U.S. Politicians and Government Officials": "When policy makers in Washington worry about Mexico these days, they think in terms of a handful of numbers: Mexico’s 19,500 hectares devoted to poppy cultivation for heroin; its 17,500 hectares growing cannabis; the 95 percent of American cocaine imports brought by Mexican cartels through Mexico and Central America. They are thinking about the wrong numbers. If there is one number that embodies the seemingly intractable...

Fear Obamacare is impossible to repeal? Think again! Here's the surprisingly easy path to dumping this law.

We are told that it is up to the Supreme Court to determine what laws are constitutional, but that is hardly in line with the limiting principles offered by the U.S. Constitution. That power the courts claim to have is called Judicial Review, and it is addressed nowhere in the Constitution. In fact, the federal courts seized that power for themselves through an opinion written by Justice John Marshall in the Marbury v. Madison case of 1803. Yes, that’s right, the courts gave that power to themselves. By deciding if laws are constitutional, and since the Supreme Court is a...

The measure has the backing of the Senate's top two leaders -- President Pro Tem Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock -- who have signed on as co-sponsors. "The federal government has excessively abused the authority of state and local governments for some time," Albers said, explaining why he sponsored the proposal. SR 889 has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

State and local resistance to the detention provisions contained in the National Defense Authorization Act continues to grow, rapidly emerging as a nationwide movement. The Tennessee legislature will consider HB1629 and SB2669 in the 2012 session. The legislation would effectively nullify the detention provisions in the NDAA and would also require federal agents making an arrest in the Volunteer State for any reason to first obtain written permission from the county sheriff. This bill declares that any federal law purporting to require local or state law enforcement agencies to act at the direction of the federal government or the United...

I believe that states have the constitutional right to legalize drugs. For, the Constitution is silent on the federal government’s ability to regulate or ban substances that adults choose to digest at their own peril—or medical relief. The Constitution is so silent on this matter of individual liberty (choosing to digest or use drugs) that in order to ban the sale of alcohol during the Prohibition era, we passed the 18th Amendment. When we wised up and realized that banning alcohol doesn’t work, we repealed the 18th Amendment via the 21st Amendment. I contend that federal drug laws are unconstitutional...

The feds continue to target medical marijuana dispensaries which otherwise are operating in accordance with state law. In Colorado federal prosecutors gave 23 dispensaries which are operating within 1,000 feet of a school 45 days to shut down or face criminal prosecution as reported by John Ingold for The Denver Post. They issued an identical ultimatum to medical marijuana dispensaries in California last October. The threats are not idle. The feds yesterday filed suit "to seize the building of a Sacramento dispensary, charging the marijuana store violated federal laws against drug transactions near schools" as reported by Peter Hecht for...

The highest court in the nation will be the latest to take up arguments relating to Texas’ redistricting mess. A hearing is scheduled Monday, January 9, before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to settle which maps will be used for this spring’s state and congressional elections.

SEC. 376. FEDERAL AND STATE IMMUNITY. (a) Abrogation of State Immunity- A State shall not be immune under the 11th Amendment to the Constitution from a suit brought in a Federal court of competent jurisdiction for a violation of this Act. (b) Waiver of State Immunity- (1) IN GENERAL- (A) WAIVER- A State's receipt or use of Federal financial assistance for any program or activity of a State shall constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity, under the 11th Amendment to the Constitution or otherwise, to a suit brought by an employee or applicant for employment of that program or activity...

Sometimes voters get behind an idea, and we think to ourselves, why? Why are they even bothering when that idea, were it to become law, would be struck down as unconstitutional faster than we can utter “temporary restraining order?” We smugly revisited that thought on Tuesday upon hearing that the Denver-based 10th Circuit had upheld a lower-court ruling keeping an amendment to the Oklahoma constitution from becoming law. The amendment, overwhelmingly approved by Oklahoma voters last year, prevents judges from basing rulings on international law — and specifically mentions Islamic law, often known as Shariah law.

Perry is nearly perfect with regards to his gun record.

"Rick Perry. I think he would slice Obama up like shredded pork and have him for a Texas barbeque." "Well, to start with, Perry is a man's man, while Obama is a metrosexual, a girlie-man. Perry is 100% American, Obama is 100%... Something else. In 2008, the energy and passion was pro-Obama; in 2012, the energy and passion will be anti-Obama, which Perry could personify as he'll go for Obama's jugular like Romney could never do. "But there's another reason why I'm excited about Perry that is far more fundamental than all of this, even the economy. The only possible...

A smart middle-ground play for independents, but I thought he was supposed to be the great evangelical hope. Last week he said he was “fine” with New York legalizing gay marriage before clarifying today that he’s not fine with gay marriage itself. (In fact, he supports a Federal Marriage Amendment.) Now this. Why would a social-conservative voter looking for a champion who has traction in the polls prefer him to, say, Bachmann?Maybe Perry’s willing to shed some votes in Iowa in exchange for picking some up in New Hampshire. Despite holding personal pro-life beliefs, Texas Gov. Rick Perry categorized abortion...

Ninth Amendment: "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Tenth Amendment: "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." What was the original purpose of these two Amendments? The Tenth Amendment is pretty self explanatory, but the Ninth Amendment is often viewed as more nebulous and vague, having very little real or relevant meaning. The truth of the matter is that the two Amendments were intended...

Dr. Susan Rutten Wasson sits on the corner of a bed in the cramped bedroom of Alice Johnson, a 91-year-old Osakis resident everyone calls "Grandma Alice." She's examining Johnson's arm, which is swollen, she's determined, because of a tight sleeve cuff. Also in the room are Alice's daughter, Ione, and granddaughter, Anne, who lives downstairs in the farmhouse Johnson has occupied for decades. A Rottweiler mix as big as a Shetland licks the face of 18-month-old Sarah, Rutten Wasson's daughter, who sits on the doctor's lap. It's more a scene from the days of frontier medicine than from the modern...

The federal war on drugs is coming under attack from multiple angles, most recently with the introduction of a bill in Congress by conservative Rep. Ron Paul and liberal Rep. Barney Frank that would end the national prohibition on marijuana and allow states to set their own policies.The “Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011,” or HR 2306, would not “legalize” marijuana. If passed, the legislation would simply remove the plant from the federal list of “controlled substances.” States would then be free to regulate, tax, or prohibit it without U.S. government interference. One of the important issues the bill...

 On June 16 the U.S. Supreme Court sent a case (U.S. v. Bond) back to a lower court on Tenth Amendment grounds. The ruling, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy (the Court's "swing vote"), hints that ObamaCare just might be ruled unconstitutional. How? Justice Kennedy's opinion in U.S. v. Bond showed he still believes the federal government is restricted by the enumerated powers as listed in the U.S. Constitution. His viewpoint was expressed in a case the Lifetime network is probably making a movie about right now.            In this case, Carol Anne Bond learned that her best friend, Myrlinda Haynes, was...

The Tenth Amendment Center will launch a weekly show on TRX: Tenther Radio on Wednesday, June 22 beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific. Author and scholar Thomas E. Woods, Jr., will be a guest on the inaugural show. To listen go to the Tenther Radio website and click the play button. Dr. Woods is a New York Times bestselling author who is a senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard and his master's, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University. Woods’ book Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Brady Campaign...New Champion Of The Tenth Amendment   Friday, June 10, 2011   For more than 30 years, the Brady Campaign has demanded that the federal government impose gun bans, ammo bans, waiting periods, gun registration -- you name it -- with no regard for the states. In 1994, when the group was called Handgun Control, Inc., it said that its main "goal" was to "enact a comprehensive federal gun control policy."In January, the Brady Campaign endorsed Sen. Frank Lautenberg's (D-N.J.) bills proposing a federal law to prohibit Americans from possessing...

When the United States was formed the Congress owned no lands. It is time to establish the right of land ownership for every state in the union. Heavy handedness by the White House restricting drilling in the Gulf and Alaska, combined with the day-by-day rise in gasoline prices, have focused public attention as never before on the enervation of local economies by federal bureaucrats and the emasculation of the power of states to create opportunity for their citizens. Add to that the attempt by the National Labor Relations Board to force Boeing to halt assembly of Boeing's Dreamliner in South...