What’s now being called “The Thomas Supreme Court,” referring to Justice Clarence Thomas, ruled that Roe vs. Wade, wasn’t legitimate because the right to have an abortion wasn’t specified in The U.S. Constitution. We know this because the word “abortion” doesn’t occur in that document.
Thus this seems to be a direct 10th Amendment opinion – – –
Amendment X
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 implications are astounding. For the first time in recent history, the extreme power of the 10th Amendment, previously ignored by the elected liars and their Administrative State’s bureaucrats, has been brought to bear on That Thing Living in Washington D.C..
The question is, what powers WERE delegated to the United States (government) by the Constitution? It’s a short document so the quick and dirty answer is, “Not many.”
Will the “Thomas Court” continue on this path?
There’s evidence it may. To start with, Justice Thomas apparently fully understands the implications of the Legislative/Executive amalgam using the mal-interpreted interstate part of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause as the basis for most of it’s modern legislation. Like this for example – – –
“Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything — and the federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers.” — –Clarence Thomas, Gonzales v. Raich
In the opposite direction, Justice Thomas affirms his committment to the powers that ARE “delegated to the United States by the Constitution” – – –
“The Court today properly holds that the Brady Act violates the Tenth Amendment in that it compels state law enforcement officers to “administer or enforce a federal regulatory program.” …I write separately to emphasize that the Tenth Amendment affirms the undeniable notion that under our Constitution, the Federal Government is one of enumerated, hence limited, powers. –Justice Clarence Thomas from the Mack decision on Brady, law.cornell.edu/
This was likely the basis for the more recent Supreme Court ruling that, because of the Second Amendment, NY can’t require proof that a citizen needs self protection in order to issue a CCW (Concealed Carry Weapons permit).
Further, the Thomas Court ruled that the EPA can’t set caps on so-called “greenhouse” gas emissions from existing power plants because only Congress has the power to set those standards.
If the Thomas Court continues down this path, we could get the country back.
And then there’s the 9th Amendment – – –
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The question is, what did James Madison mean when he wrote “retained by the people” in the 9th Amendment — and “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” in the 10th Amendment?
Which people? Pretty clearly, since he differentiates between “the States” vs. “the people” in the 10th Amendment, he means the people as individuals and/or voluntary groups.
But for the short-comings and limitations of the English language — having only “us” or “we” to refer to other folks rather than the wealth of more precise and limiting alternatives in many native languages — “retained by the people” would be thoroughly defined and would rarely refer to everyone — as do “us” and “we” in English.
However Mr. Madison, constrained by those short-comings and limitations, seemingly left the door open for “the States” — meaning their governments — to do as they please as long as they don’t directly violate The Constitution. FWIW, my guess is he didn’t mean it that way.
If it wasn’t for those short-comings and limitations of the English language, Mr. Madison would likely have been more precise and would have indicated he meant “the people” as individuals and/or voluntary groups.
Further, since the word “democracy” does not appear anywhere in the founding documents — and since the founders had a healthy disrespect for the idea of “democracy“ like this – – –
“Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots.” –U.S. “Founding Father” John Adams
And this – – –
“An elective despotism was not the government we fought for” –Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XIII, 1782. ME 2:163
And particularly Mr. Madison himself – – –
“Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” –James Madison, Federalist Paper 10
– – – we might safely conclude that the phrases “to the people” (10th Amendment) and “by the people” (9th Amendment) meant “people” as individuals or voluntary groups (natural democracy) and not as just another “winner takes all” coercive State democracy, forced on everyone by vote.
The conversation about abortion you never hear is that no matter how appealing it might seem to some, NO government, neither State nor Federal, should have the right to force a woman to be, like livestock, a forced breeder.
Always remember what “Made America Great” the first time: Everyone — especially governments — minded their own business. In the case of U.S. governments, that means their business is “enumerated and thus limited.”
The repeal of Roe vs. Wade should have meant that the decision to have an abortion was left up to each individual woman, not a coercive State government.
Now apply that principle, embodied in the 9th and 10th Amendments, across the board.
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