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To: everyone
Since the Constitution is a compact between the several States, and the federal government is not a party, but the result of that compact, it lacks the authority to define the extent of the powers delegated to it by the States.

Wrong. -- The powers delegated to both Federal & State governments come from the individual people of America. We the people defined the extent of powers delegated in our Constitution & Amendments.

Only the individual States, as the exclusive parties to the compact between themselves, possess that power.

Wrong. The states must obey our constitution & amendments, just as they ratified them.

If the federal judiciary had the power to interpret the Constitution, then it would be meaningless as a written document, because, as stated by Jefferson, judicial discretion, not the Constitution, would determine the measure of the federal power.

As Jefferson said, the Constitution & Amendments determine the measure of both federal & state power. [see the 10th]
The federal & state judiciaries are themselves bound to honor our constitution, and to find that laws repugnant to the principles of our liberties are void.

This article is a typical 'states rights' piece of agit-prop, intended to justify state government infringements upon individual rights.
Unable to change the US Constitutions guarantees of personal liberties, the statists attempt an 'end around' by claiming States can ignore them.
-- It's a pitifully obvious ploy.

17 posted on 04/02/2004 8:22:11 AM PST by tpaine (In arrogance a few powermad infinitely shrewd imbeciles attempt to lay down the law for all of us)
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To: tpaine
The powers delegated to both Federal & State governments come from the individual people of America. We the people defined the extent of powers delegated in our Constitution & Amendments.

Actually, “the powers delegated to both Federal & State governments come from” the people of the individual States. And if (by “we the people”) you are referring to ‘the undifferentiated people of the Nation as a whole,’ you are referring to a people that (in the words of Mr. Justice Thomas) “the Constitution does not contemplate … will either exercise power or delegate it.”

The states must obey our constitution & amendments, just as they ratified them.

The States are bound by the specific terms of the Constitution of the United States. In the words of Senator Robert Augustus Toombs of Georgia:

“…[T]he Constitution is a compact. It contains all our obligations and the duties of the Federal Government…I say that the Constitution is the whole compact. All the obligations, all the chains that fetter the limbs of [the people of Georgia], are nominated in the bond…”

The States are not, however, thereby required to comply with ‘unwritten law,’ or (if we are to believe Mr. Jefferson & Mr. Madison) with the dictates of federal judges that ‘palpably’ violate the Constitution.

This article is a typical 'states rights' piece of agit-prop, intended to justify state government infringements upon individual rights.

On the contrary, I would suggest that the public comments of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison properly define the “states rights” position…

;>)

Unable to change the US Constitutions guarantees of personal liberties, the statists attempt an 'end around' by claiming States can ignore them.

Given that “statists” promote the concentration of economic and political power in government, a more common occurrence might be described thusly: “unable to change the US Constitutions guarantees of personal liberties” (such as the First & Second Amendments), “the statists attempt an 'end around' by claiming” the federal government can ignore the Constitution (often by means of federal judicial fiat).

For example, the federal ‘campaign finance reform’ law restricts my First Amendment rights in ways that the laws of my State certainly do not. And the federal ‘assault weapons ban’ infringes my Second Amendment right to own a ‘politically incorrect’ self-loading firearm - even though the laws of my State do not.

;>)

61 posted on 04/02/2004 4:53:41 PM PST by Who is John Galt? ("Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..." - Amendment I)
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