Rick Santorum: The 10th Amendment Does Not Mean What It Says

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has called himself
a ?very strong supporter? of the 10th Amendment
while simultaneously asserting that ?the idea that the only
things that the states are prevented from doing are only things
specifically established in the Constitution is wrong.? If
elected president, Santorum also says he would put a stop to any
state trying to legalize gay marriage:

I will get involved in that because the states, as a president I
will get involved because the states don?t have a right to
undermine the basic fundamental values that hold this country
together. America is an ideal. It?s not just a constitution, it is
an ideal. It?s a set of morals and principles that were established
in that declaration, and states don?t have the right, just like
they didn?t have the right to do slavery.

Writing at the Volokh Conspiracy, Case Western Reserve law
professor Jonathan Adler suggests that Santorum ?might want to
read? the 10th Amendment
instead of just pretending to know what it says:

The Constitution only prohibits states from doing those things
the Constitution prohibits, and the federal government may only
constrain state autonomy pursuant to those powers delegated to the
federal government.  Santorum may think same-sex marriage is
wrong, but nothing in the Constitution prevents states from
recognizing same-sex marriage nor does anything in the Constitution
authorize the federal government to stop states from
doing so.

For more on Santorum?s long crusade against limited
constitutional government, read Jonathan Rauch on Santorum's
"frothy
mixture of collectivism and conservatism," and then check out
Reason.tv?s report from the Iowa caucus: "Rick Santorum on the
Freedom to Impose Your Values."

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