@buckeyeELO: "<url>
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 285
Offered January 23, 2004
Memorializing the Congress of the United States to preserve Virginia's
sovereignty in matters related to certain public expressions of religious
faith in the Commonwealth.
Patron Black
Committee Referral Pending
WHEREAS, the Declaration of Independence declared that governments are
instituted to secure certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness, with which all human beings are endowed by
their Creator and to which they are entitled by the laws of nature and of
nature's God; and
WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution clearly
recognizes that a state retains all rights not specifically delegated by
the Constitution to the federal government of the United States of America;
and
WHEREAS, Article III, Section 2, of the United States Constitution grants
the Congress the authority to except certain matters from the jurisdiction
of the federal courts inferior to the United States Supreme Court; and
WHEREAS, over the last several decades, the federal courts have claimed
legal jurisdiction in matters pertaining to religion within an individual
state; and
WHEREAS, disputes and doubts have arisen with respect to public displays of
the Ten Commandments and to other public expressions of religious faith;
and
WHEREAS, legislation has been introduced in Congress to except subject
matter jurisdiction from the federal courts in certain matters pertaining
to the power to make a public expression of religious faith; now, therefore
be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the
Congress of the United States be urged to preserve Virginia's sovereignty
in matters related to certain public expressions of religious faith in the
Commonwealth. The General Assembly requests the Congress of the United
States to pass legislation declaring that the power: (i) to display the Ten
Commandments, (ii) to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and (iii) to recite
the national motto on or within property owned or administered by the
several states or political subdivisions thereof be among the powers
reserved to the states respectively; that the words to the Pledge of
Allegiance are "I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of
America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,
indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."; that the words to the
national motto are "In God We Trust"; and requesting the Congress of the
United States to pass legislation making the subject matter of these
declarations exceptions to the subject matter jurisdiction of federal
courts inferior to the United States Supreme Court; and be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the
Honorable Mark R. Warner, Governor of Virginia; the Honorable Timothy M.
Kaine, Lieutenant Governor; John H. Chichester, President Pro Tempore of
the Virginia Senate and William J. Howell, Speaker of the House of
Delegates; and be it
RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies
of this resolution to the Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and the members
of the Virginia Congressional Delegation so that they may be apprised of
the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter."
    @buckeyeELO: "<quote>
So nice of you to finally acknowledge my expertise.   I knew in time you
would
Too bad the same can't be said for you."
    @buckeyeELO: "<quote>
It is so nice that you are further acknowledging my expertise. Either that
or that I get under your skin. After all you are the one who felt a need to
say something to a post that had nothing to do with you, twice even. Shall
we go for three?"
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