Posted on 11/05/2007 6:11:57 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
In Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority,1 the Supreme Court held that state interests are more properly protected from federal encroachment by the procedural safeguards found in the federal political process rather than by judicially defined limitations.2 Justice Powell, in a strong dissent, asserted that the majority's decision reduced the tenth amendment to "meaningless rhetoric."3 In explaining its decision, the majority observed that State governments, through equal representation in the Senate, retain sufficient influence over the federal political process to insure their autonomy and sovereign interests.4 The Court, however, recognized that the seventeenth amendment, which provides for the popular election of Senators, may have diminished the influence that state governments have over the federal political process and, thereby, the effectiveness of the states' role in that process.5 In South Carolina v, Baker,6 the Court reiterated its position in Garcia, and also held that in order to obtain relief, states must show that the federal political process operates in a defective manner.7
Baker provoked a heated response from the Chairman of the National Governors Association.8 This response typified the reactions of others also alarmed that an excessive centralization of authority in the federal government, and a corresponding denigration of the status of the states in the federal system, may be occurring.9
Hopefully, this version meets with your approval.
What I posted is an excerpt. The actual article is over 20 pages long.
Thanks for posting this muh man!
For what its worth it seems like both sides of this issue seem to be cryin’ like a bunch of pansies on this...And maybe rightfully so...
This is just my initial knee-jerk reaction...
But everytime it seems like the Federal side of the coin want to “diminish” the individual states rights in representation at the Federal level, basically politisizing the appointments or elections of Senators and allowing more and more influence downhill from D.C., it just seems to me like unless we just clean house and fire every single one of them...Its never going to change...
I say it needs to be given a name...
“Operation Clean Slate”
I know there are a lot of good to great leaders and elected officials up there now...But to be fair to the entire country, a clean sweep really needs to happen...
Otherwise we are just greasing the slippery slope ourselves...
Just my opinion...
The main question on my government seminar final in college was essentially whether the 10th amendment was meaningless rhetoric in the modern world of Federal supremacy.
Nice to see that the Supremes are still wrestling with the problem. I thought the argument was over by 1961.
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