There’s been a small debate
going on in the Pennsylvania Legislature’s State Government Committee between
proponents of the Tenth Amendment and advocates of the Supremacy Clause of the
Constitution.

At issue is a proposed
amendment to resolution HR 49. The resolution claims state sovereignty under
the Tenth Amendment over certain powers of the federal government. It also
includes a clause reading, “Whereas, Many Federal laws are directly in
violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States;”

The proposed amendment under
debate would strike that clause.

Those supporting the amendment
cite the Supremacy Clause in Article 6 Section 2 of the Constitution: “This
Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in
pursuance thereof…shall be the supreme law of the land…”

Those arguing for the Supremacy
Clause as overriding claim that it means federal laws trump all state and local
laws. However, there are at least two arguments against that reasoning.

Steve Palmer, who reported on
the debate on the Tenth Amendment Center Web site said the Supremacy Clause
holds true only when laws are made “in pursuance” of the Constitution.

“A constitutional law,” Palmer
writes, “is one that is made in pursuance of the Constitution. A law which is
not made in pursuance of the Constitution violates the Tenth Amendment. It’s
that simple.”

But it can also be argued that
the Tenth Amendment supersedes the Supremacy Clause. The amendment reads:

“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.”

Amendments change the body of
the Constitution. That’s why the amendment process was included in the first
place, to make changes and modifications.

Consider:

• The Constitution allowed for
slavery until that wretched institution was outlawed by the Thirteenth
Amendment.
• The body of the Constitution says U.S. senators are to be elected by their
various state legislatures but by the Seventeenth Amendment changed that to a
direct election by the people.
• There is nothing in the Constitution granting Congress the right to prohibit
alcohol, but that, too, was changed by amendment. Another amendment repealed
that one and re-legalized alcohol sales and use.
• When first enacted during the Civil War, income taxes were ruled
unconstitutional. Yet, they become such with the passage of the Sixteenth
Amendment.

For better or worse, amendments
override points in the body of the Constitution. They change, modify and filter
them. That’s why the amendment procedure was incorporated into the
Constitution, to provide a means for change.

So, it may be argued that the
Tenth Amendment modifies the Supremacy Clause. Recall, the Bill of Rights, the
first 10 amendments, were put forward to eliminate any fears that the federal
government would become a domineering force that would take away powers or
liberties from the states or the people.

Left unchecked and unmodified,
the Supremacy Clause is destructive to the Republic. Blanket supremacy destroys
the proper relationship between the federal government, the states and the
people.