State Powers
What if the solution to Washington… wasn’t in Washington? The 50 states could be America’s secret weapon against an ever-expanding federal government. States can amend the constitution to demand fiscal responsibility in Washington, can request that federal regulation comply with local ordinances, and can form interstate compacts to better protect constitutional rights. The Goldwater Institute is providing a roadmap for states to reassert their power under the Tenth Amendment.
- All
- Press Releases
- Multimedia
- In the News
- Reports
- Cases
- Amicus Briefs
- OpEds & Blogs
-
Tombstone v. United States
Posted on February 17, 2012 | Type: CaseThe City of Tombstone is squaring off against the U.S. Forest Service over water rights in a fight to rescue “The Town Too Tough to Die.” Citing the Wilderness Act, the Forest Service is refusing to allow the city to repair its waterlines to mountain springs it has owned for nearly seventy years – and which date back to the 1880s. This refusal is threatening residents, private property and public safety with the risk of a total loss of fire protection and safe drinking water.
-
Department of Health & Human Services v. Florida
Posted on February 13, 2012 | Type: Amicus BriefFourteen states have enacted or adopted “Health Care Freedom Laws” that protect individual freedom of choice in health care plans. In these “Health Care Freedom States,” the Minimum Coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Individual Mandate”) threatens to quash a traditional exercise of state sovereignty that directly serves the structural purpose of federalism in our compound republic – the protection of individual liberty and decentralized local governance guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Such federal overreaching must be rejected if the vertical separation of powers established by our Constitution means anything at all.
-
States Can't Have It Both Ways on Exchanges
Posted on February 09, 2012 | Type: Blog | Author: Diane CohenSome state lawmakers committed to striking down the federal takeover of health care – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) – have moved forward with establishing PPACA insurance exchanges at the same time the United States Supreme Court will be deciding the law’s fate.
-
SPN News: Goldwater Institute update (Jan/Feb 2012)
Posted on February 08, 2012 | Type: In the NewsFollowing up on a Goldwater Institute investigative report that uncovered how Phoenix and countless other cities spend millions of dollars on pay and benefits for city workers to do work for their unions, the Institute is challenging the union’s contract in court. It’s a case that could impact the 25 other states with similar state-constitution gift clauses. In other news, Goldwater is again challenging Arizona’s taxpayer funded campaign finance law, less than six months after the “matching funds” provision was struck down in the U.S. Supreme Court. This time, the Institute is demanding an end to the use of taxpayer money for illegal self-promotion. State officials have spent millions of taxpayer dollars on self-promotional ads ahead of a November referendum that could end public funding for political campaigns. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker keynoted the 2011 Goldwater Dinner, at which he said, “Frugality in government brings freedom and prosperity for our people.”
-
States must protect the health care freedom of their citizens by saying no to federal health insurance exchanges
Posted on January 17, 2012 | Type: Policy Report | Author: Diane CohenOn November 14, the U.S. Supreme Court granted review of the 26-state lawsuit against the President’s healthcare law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Court granted 5 ½ hours for oral argument, including 2 hours of argument on the individual mandate and 1 ½ hours on severability, which addresses whether, in the event the mandate is found unconstitutional, the entire Act must be stricken as well.
