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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

New House Resolution seeks to re-assert state authority, curtail Federal Government power

www.ncleg.net

A recent House resolution, filed two days ago, seeks to re-affirm the authority of the tenth amendment and states’ rights.  If the measure is approved by both chambers and the Governor, the Republican-sponsored resolution would demand that the President and Congress stop whittling away at state sovereignty.

The tenth amendment to the United States Constitution says that any powers not assigned to the Federal Government by the Constitution, are powers reserved for the states and the people.  State Representative Mark Brody, of Anson and Union Counties, is a Republican freshman who says he’s tired of national lawmakers over-stepping their authority and delivering mandates that he calls unconstitutional.  Certain issues, says Brody, are not within the authority of the federal government to mandate.

“The gay marriage issue: the Supreme Court has now taken up the issue of gay marriage… that’s an issue that belongs to the states.  The abortion issue:  that’s a state issue.  It needs to be taken up by the state.  There’s no constitutional right to have an abortion in this nation – at least according to the constitution and being related to the tenth amendment.”

The House Resolution that Brody and six other Republicans are sponsoring amounts to not much more than a public affirmation of states’ rights.  The measure comes just a week after the filing of a separate resolution that made national news for sounding as though lawmakers were seeking to establish a state religion.

Rachel hosts and produces CoastLine, an award-winning hourlong conversation featuring artists, humanitarians, scholars, and innovators in North Carolina. The show airs Wednesdays at noon and Sundays at 4 pm on 91.3 FM WHQR Public Media. It's also available as a podcast; just search CoastLine WHQR. You can reach her at rachellh@whqr.org.