Federal vs. states’ rights issue picking up steam again

By I.M. STACKEL (Contact)
4:37 p.m., Sunday, July 12, 2009

In a repeat of states’ rights eerily evocative of the legislative commotion before the Civil War, groups around the nation are pressing for their 10th Amendment rights.

It is, again, about the economy and disagreement over fundamental principles.

And, in Florida, a Southwest Florida legislator is leading the charge.

On July 1, Florida formally joined the states’ rights movement, with House Memorial Bill 19, pressing U.S. Congress to honor provisions of the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment that states: “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.â€