Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Supremacy Clause

I was having a discussion on Facebook the other day regarding the Second Amendment. The discussion was interesting and I learned a couple of things.

I asked the question "Where does the Constitution say we should look at precedent to decide cases?"

My co-arbiter said that it was the "Supremacy Clause." Huh?

So I looked it up.

Article VI paragraph 2:

"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made under the Authority of the Untied States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."

OK, so what about the Tenth Amendment I ask. "Red-headed step-child" says he. Rude.

I went and got in the shower, and meditated for a few minutes. There is nothing like a hot shower to open the brain cells.

Not a red-headed step-child at all, but a clear and concise measurement of our Constitution.

The Supremacy clause states that the Constitution itself is the Law of the Land, that ANY laws to the contrary are notwithstanding, not applicable.

Let's take the Second Amendment, since that was the original subject thread.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."


I think we all know it by heart.

So, ANY Federal law that changed the Second IN ANY WAY would not be Constitutional. Period. The Tenth affirms that ANY THING not enumerated by the Constitution, (and NO other legality IS enumerated by the Constitution), belongs to the State.

So, if there is any other FEDERAL law that infringes or otherwise changes the Second Amendment,(and we know several) it's a violation of the Constitution.

They can't have it both ways. Either we can make other Federal laws or we can't. The Constitution is clear, the language unambiguous.... by the Supremacy Clause that was pointed out, the ONLY legal law they can look at would be the Second Amendment; anything else, including registration by the FEDERAL government is a violation of the Constitution, by virtue of it's own language in the Supremacy Clause.

Now I'm not a Constitutional lawyer or scholar, but the language is clear to me.

The Supremacy Clause says the Constitution is the Law of the Land; the Tenth Amendment says that anything not enumerated in the Constitution belongs to the State.

Anything that infringes on the Constitution, by virtue of the language in the Supremacy Clause is unconstitutional.

If only it were that simple. I highly recommend "Who Killed the Constitution" by Thomas E. Woods Jr. This has been going on for decades. Also read "The Proper Role of Government" by Ezra Taft Benson, this is available online for free, just do a search.
There is a GREAT article by Pres. Benson called Our Divine Constitution. It's worth reading, printing and reading again.

This was not a Democrat vs. Republican issue. The Constitution has been trampled by both parties, and not just a little; and not just the Second Amendment.

1 comment:

Audra M said...

I just love you! This was a simple, but great post. Thanks for giving me the knowlege to occasionally sound smart.