Thread by @AmoneyResists

This man has never “sat down with real Americans in diners discussing the 10th Amendment.” I’d bet good money that most people in diners across America and certainly in this crowd couldn’t even tell you what the 10th Amendment states without googling it.

https://twitter.com/rightwingwatch/status/1365756505912401924

The 10th Amendment isn’t widely discussed or known because it’s had little relevance to political discourse. It simply states “The powers not delegated to the U.S. by the Constitution—nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

The simple language of it emphasizes that the national gov’t remains one of limited and enumerated powers. When initially added to the Constitution in 1791, the 10th Amendment stood as a reminder of the continuing importance of states and of the foundational role of the people.

In the early 1900’s, the SCOTUS used the 10th Amendment to resist assertions of federal power. But when the regulatory programs of the New Deal (e.g. Social Security) stabilized the economy, protected workers, & promoted American welfare, it was removed from debate for decades.

As a result, from the late 1930’s to the mid-1970’s, the 10th Amendment essentially disappeared from U.S. Constitutional law. After a brief reemergence, it was again out of public discussion in 1985, before returning in 1992 as part of the court’s new federalism doctrine.

The 10th Amendment is often cited by conservatives as grounds for their state to simply be exempt from any federal regulation or law (e.g. marriage equality; abortion access) that they disagree with. But this is not what it actually says or why it was added to the Bill of Rights.

Does it unnerve me that the same people who supported storming the Capitol to assassinate members of Congress and have been talking about a 2nd civil war are now proselytizing about “States rights” and the 10th Amendment? Yes. Do they have any idea what they’re talking about? No.