: Nothing about Donald Trump’s candidacy for the presidency was
: normal. After all, he defeated more than a dozen recognized
: names in the Republican Party – even after he refused to
: promise he would support the GOP candidate if it wasn’t
: him.

: Nor was his stunning-to-many election victory over Hillary
: Clinton, an icon of one of the most powerful political
: families in the nation, routine. He won states that
: Republicans had not won in decades.

: Now, it appears his tenure in the Oval Office will venture
: from the mainstream, but probably in a good way.

: A constitutional way.

: On a new website his transition team has created, he’s
: advocating for the 10th Amendment, the provision in the
: U.S. Constitution cited often by conservatives who believe
: the federal government has usurped rights the Founders
: meant for the states.

: Under his plan to “make America great again,” he addresses
: constitutional rights.

: “Donald Trump understands the solemn duty that comes from the
: oath of office – swearing to ‘preserve, protect and defend
: the Constitution of the United States.’ He embraces the
: fact that the reason the Founders of this nation decided to
: adopt a written Constitution as the supreme law of the land
: for the first time in world history was to create a
: democratic form of government in which ordinary people
: would know the powers of government and the rights of the
: people. That is why the Constitution’s 4,400 words were
: written in a way that ordinary Americans would read and
: understand them, and use a standard to hold public
: officials accountable.”

: The statement continues: “As President, Donald Trump will
: fulfill that sworn duty, vetoing legislation that exceeds
: congressional authority, taking actions as chief executive
: and commander-in-chief that are consistent with his
: constitutional role, and nominating judges and Supreme
: Court justices who are committed to interpreting the
: Constitution and laws according to their original public
: meaning.

: “He will defend Americans’ fundamental rights to free speech,
: religious liberty, keeping and bearing arms, and all other
: rights guaranteed to them in the Bill of Rights and other
: constitutional provisions. This includes the Tenth
: Amendment guarantee that many areas of governance are left
: to the people and the states, and are not the role of the
: federal government to fulfill. The Constitution declares
: that as Americans we have the right to speak freely, share
: and live out our beliefs, raise and protect our families,
: be free from undue governmental abuse, and participate in
: the public square. ”

: The amendment 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.”

: The Tenth Amendment Center (TAC) lists about 30 specific
: powers granted to the federal government in the
: Constitution, although the number may change depending on
: how they’re counted: To lay and collect Taxes, Duties,
: Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the
: common Defence and general Welfare of the United States;
: but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform
: throughout the United States;

: To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the
: several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

: To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform
: Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United
: States;

: To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign
: Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

: To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities
: and current Coin of the United States;

: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by
: securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the
: exclusive Right to their respective Writings and
: Discoveries;

: To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

: To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the
: high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make
: Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to
: that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

: To provide and maintain a Navy;

: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land
: and naval Forces;

: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws
: of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

: To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the
: Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be
: employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to
: the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers,
: and the Authority of training the Militia according to the
: discipline prescribed by Congress;

: To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever,
: over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may,
: by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of
: Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United
: States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places
: purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in
: which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts,
: Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful
: Buildings; And

: To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for
: carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other
: Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the
: United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

: No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any
: Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be
: absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws:
: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any
: State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the
: Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be
: subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

: The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors,
: and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day
: shall be the same throughout the United States.

: In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his
: Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers
: and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on
: the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for
: the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both
: of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer
: shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act
: accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a
: President shall be elected.

: The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in
: one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the
: Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.

: The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall
: be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where
: the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not
: committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such
: Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

: The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of
: Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption
: of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the
: Person attainted.

: Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the
: public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every
: other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe
: the Manner in which such Acts, Records, and Proceedings
: shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

: New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union;

: The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all
: needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or
: other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing
: in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice
: any Claims of the United States, or of any particular
: State.

: The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it
: necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution,
: or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of
: the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing
: Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all
: Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when
: ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the
: several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof,
: as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be
: proposed by the Congress

: The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and
: other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of
: Impeachment…

: The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.
: When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or
: Affirmation. When the President of the United States is
: tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall
: be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the
: Members present.

: The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators
: and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by
: the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time
: by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the
: Places of chusing Senators.

: Those who read the language plainly point out that there’s no
: federal authority for an Environmental Protection Agency, a
: Department of Education and many other agencies through
: which Washington exercises authority over the states.

: The argument was used against Obamacare, with critics
: protesting that the federal government doesn’t have the
: authority to force all citizens to buy a consumer product.

: The 10th Amendment, however, has been discussed little by
: federal politicians. Those most likely to cite it routinely
: are classified as “protesters,” “patriots” or “sovereign
: citizens,” by the federal government.

: The TAC’s Michael Boldin wrote: “When it comes to limits of
: federal power under the Constitution, the view of many
: Founding Fathers fits under the same theme. That is,
: federal acts outside of the Constitution are null and void.
: Oliver Ellsworth, the Supreme Court’s third chief justice,
: put it this way during the ratification debates: ‘If the
: United States go beyond their powers, if they make a law
: which the Constitution does not authorize, it is void.’”

: Boldin noted that in 1798, Thomas Jefferson “wrote that
: ‘whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated
: powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no
: force.’”

: “It’s my opinion that no one in their right mind should expect
: the federal government to limit itself. This also includes
: the federal courts, a branch of the federal government.
: And, as I noted in my July 2013 column at Personal Liberty,
: ‘voting the bums out’ hasn’t been a good strategy either.
: In other words, if you have a problem with the federal
: government, you need something outside the federal
: government to stop it. That would be the states and the
: people,” he wrote.

: Trump also outlined on his site his plans for defense,
: national security, immigration, a border wall, energy
: independence, tax reform, regulatory reform, trade reform,
: education, transportation and infrastructure, financial
: services reform and health-care reform.

:
: http://www.fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/trump-transition-web-site-gives-lengthy-mention-of-10th-amendment/175386#more-175386