State Sovereignty Resoluton Update - 4/7

Idaho enacted its HJM004 today with a voice vote in the State Senate, becoming the second State (after South Dakota) to do so in the current session.

Montana's Senate has approved HB 246, which unlike most State sovereignty resolutions, is a bill to forbid the Feds from enforcing firearms statutes with respect to certain weapons. The vote, taken Mar. 27, was 29-21. The bill is expected to be signed by Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer. The gun site M4Carbine Forums has some additional information. When Gov. Schweitzer signs the bill, I shall mark it as enacted.

In a related development, ZDNet Health Care reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has held (Wyeth v. Levine) that Federal law cannot pre-empt suits against drug manufacturers for negligence in their warning labels. Justice Clarence Thomas filed a concurring opinion that states the 10th Amendment position quite clearly:

"[Judge Thomas writes:] 'I have become increasingly skeptical of this Court’s purposes and objectives” pre-emption jurisprudence. Under this approach, the Court routinely invalidates state laws based on perceived conflicts with broad federal policy objectives, legislative history, or generalized notions of congressional purposes that are not embodied within the text of federal law. Because implied pre-emption doctrines that wander far from the statutory text are inconsistent with the Constitution, I concur only in the judgment.

"'Only when acting under power granted by the Constitution can even the Congress pre-empt state law,' he wrote, citing the 10th Amendment. He also quoted the Federalist Papers to the effect that federal powers are 'few and defined,' those remaining with the states 'numerous and indefinite.'"