Yup, that’s right – they come from the left too. Ashby Jones reports on the Tenther movement from the liberal perspective at the Wall Street Journal:
We’ve written a bit in recent months about the so-called “Tenther” movement. It’s a push by many, mostly on the right side of the political spectrum, to invoke the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution to justify shooting down of new federal legislation in the age of President Obama.
But a lawsuit playing out up in Massachusetts has reminded us that Tenth Amendment arguments can come from those wearing other political stripes, as well.
Last week, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley moved for summary judgment in a lawsuit, filed last July, brought by the Bay State against the federal government challenging the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
In its lawsuit, Massachusetts has argued that DOMA’s definition of marriage violates the 10th Amendment as well as the Constitution’s Spending Clause by forcing “the Commonwealth to engage in invidious discrimination against its own citizens in order to receive and retain federal funds in connection with two joint federal-state programs.”
Sooner or later these opposing sides are going to realize that it’s best to get the federal government out of just about everything that it currently does. The founders created a system where the most difficult, the most divisive issues would be kept where they belong – close to home.
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