Letter | The Tenth Amendment has been gutted

Doug Urbanus is wrong when he says the Tenth Amendment gives states universal powers to regulate behavior; this has never been the case. Since the Fourteenth Amendment and the equal protection clause, the ability of the states to limit Federal Constitutional rights has been greatly limited, if not done away with completely. Yes the state health officers have the power to regulate behavior, but not to the point that it runs rough shod over Constitutional Rights. As discussed in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The current shelter-in-home edict has certainly denied the rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness, some no government official has the authority to do.

— Brad Goodwin, Santa Cruz

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