PRINTER'S NO. 1589
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
293
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY FOLMER AND SCAVELLO, MARCH 7, 2016
REFERRED TO INTERGOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS, MARCH 7, 2016
A RESOLUTION
Protesting Federal Government overreach as first delineated by
the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions authored by Thomas
Jefferson and James Madison, respectively.
WHEREAS, The Kentucky Resolution of 1798 drafted by Thomas
Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, resolved
that "this commonwealth considers the federal union, upon the
terms and for the purposes specified in the late compact, as
conducive to the liberty and happiness of the several
states...."; and
WHEREAS, The Virginia Resolution of 1799 authored by James
Madison, the "Father of the Constitution," resolved that "the
General Assembly of Virginia, doth unequivocally express a firm
resolution to maintain and defend the Constitution of the United
States, and the Constitution of this State, against every
aggression either foreign or domestic, and that they will
support the Government of the United States in all measures
warranted by the former"; and
WHEREAS, The Kentucky Resolution was introduced in part to
ensure a "solemn protest" against "alarming measures of the
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general government"; and
WHEREAS, The Virginia Resolution was introduced in part as a
protest "against the palpable and alarming infractions of the
Constitution" where Federal officials were exercising:
a power no where delegated to the federal government,
and which by uniting legislative and judicial powers to
those of executive subverts the general principles of
free government; as well as the particular organization,
and positive provisions of the federal constitution; and
the other of which acts, exercises in like manner, a
power not delegated by the constitution, but on the
contrary, expressly and positively forbidden by one of
the amendments thereto; a power, which more than any
other, ought to produce universal alarm, because it is
leveled against that right of freely examining public
characters and measures, and of free communication among
the people thereon, which has ever been justly deeded,
the only effectual guardian of every right;
and
WHEREAS, The Federal Government, through executive orders,
national security measures, tax policies, regulations,
nonjudicial constitutional interpretations and other actions,
has extended Federal power well beyond the compact envisioned by
the states when ratifying and accepting the Federal
Constitution; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby claim sovereignty for its citizens under the Ninth
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: "the
enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people";
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and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby claim sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States: "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 be it further
RESOLVED, That this resolution serve as Notice and Demand to
the Federal Government, as our agent, to cease and desist,
effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of its
constitutionally delegated powers; and be it further
RESOLVED, That all compulsory Federal legislation which
directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal
penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or
lose Federal funding be prohibited or repealed; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be distributed to
the President of the United States, the President of the United
States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives, the President of the Senate of each state's
legislature, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of each
state's legislature and to each member of Congress from
Pennsylvania.
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