BOSTON, Massachusetts - May 31, 2009 - On Tuesday, May 26, 2009, Massachusetts State Representative Jeffrey Davis Perry (R-Sandwich) filed a resolution before the House of Representatives to protect the Founding Fathers’ intent and the constitutional protections of the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which 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.

“The purpose of this Resolution is to clearly affirm to Congress and the President our State’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution and to demand that the federal government halt the practice of assuming powers and imposing mandates upon the states for purposes which are not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States of America” said Representative Perry from the State House.

As cited by the Tenth Amendment Center, “James Madison, during the Constitutional ratification process, drafted the 'Virginia Plan' to give Congress general legislative authority and to empower the national judiciary to hear any case that might cause friction among the states, to give the congress a veto over state laws, to empower the national government to use the military against the states, and to eliminate the states’ accustomed role in selecting members of Congress. Each one of these proposals was soundly defeated. In fact, Madison made many more attempts to authorize a national veto over state laws, and these were repeatedly defeated as well.

“The Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that which has been delegated by the people to the federal government, and also that which is absolutely necessary to advancing those powers specifically enumerated in the Constitution for the United States. The rest is to be handled by the state governments, or locally, by the people themselves.

“The Constitution does not include a congressional power to override state laws. It does not give the judicial branch unlimited jurisdiction over all matters. It does not provide Congress with the power to legislate over everything. This is verified by the simple fact that attempts to make these principles part of the Constitution were soundly rejected by its signers.”