Mejappz
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- Joined
- Dec 16, 2005
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- Certified Residential Appraiser
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TINY U.S. AGENCY’S POWER GRAB VIOLATES TENTH AMENDMENT
VENTURA, Calif. (January 3, 2025) – In the final days of the Biden administration, an obscure U.S. agency hopes the commotion of the holidays and upcoming inauguration will help it skirt the U.S. Constitution via the regulatory process. The tiny agency, and the special interests it panders to, hopes Americans will be too busy to notice.
In early December, the obscure agency, known as the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, initiated a federal rulemaking to consolidate its power. It wants to authorize itself to bring enforcement actions against any state agency that refuses to fulfill its agenda and do its work.
The tiny federal agency, long captured by the U.S. housing lobby, plays an outsized role in how America’s 82 million single-family homes are valued. Its actions have helped contribute to the current housing inflation.
The agency already informally violates the Constitution’s anti-commandeering clause by coercing state and territorial appraiser regulatory bodies to do its bidding. The federal agency also commandeers state and territorial governments to provide it its entire operating budget in the form of pass-throughs from fees levied on state licensees. This allows it to operate outside the annual Congressional appropriations process and outside accountability.
The anti-commandeering doctrine in the Tenth Amendment is a key part of federalism in the United States, ensuring that states retain autonomy in areas not explicitly granted to the federal government. As the Framers wisely envisioned, powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people.
Much attention has been given to the Biden administration’s skirting of the Constitution’s Spending Clause in its mass forgiveness of student loans, but little attention has been given to the administration’s gutting of underwriting requirements in federally backed mortgage transactions as a similar political giveaway.
The administration unlawfully forgave some $180 billion of student loans in total, taking away the debt entirely for almost 5 million Americans. Even after a 6-3 vote by the Supreme Court in which the justices ruled that the administration had overstepped its authority in 2022 when it announced it would cancel up to $400 billion in student loans.
The Supreme Court has been clear on violations of the Tenth Amendment. Consider:
New York v. United States
This was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case of the Rehnquist Court that addressed the limits of federal power under the Tenth Amendment. The case arose from the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, which sought to incentivize states to dispose of their radioactive waste. New York challenged the law, particularly a provision requiring states to “take title” to the waste if they failed to comply. The Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that this provision was unconstitutional because it violated the Tenth Amendment by coercing states into federal regulatory programs, thus infringing on state sovereignty. This decision reinforced the principle that Congress cannot compel states to enact or enforce federal regulatory schemes, marking a significant moment in the balance of power between the federal government and the states.
Printz v. United States
Printz v. United States was a significant Supreme Court case, also of the Rehnquist Court, that reinforced the principle of federalism by limiting federal power over state officials. The case arose from a provision in the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, which temporarily required state and local law enforcement officers to conduct background checks on prospective firearm purchasers. Two sheriffs, Jay Printz and Richard Mack, challenged the law, arguing that it unconstitutionally compelled state officials to enforce federal legislation. In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled in their favor, holding that the provision violated the Tenth Amendment and the principle of state sovereignty. The Court in 1997 emphasized that the federal government cannot commandeer state officials to execute federal laws, further defining the boundaries of state and federal authority.
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius was a landmark case in the Roberts Court that upheld key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) while placing limits on federal authority. The case centered on two major issues: the individual mandate, requiring most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, and the expansion of Medicaid, which required states to broaden Medicaid coverage or risk losing federal funding. In a 5-4 decision, the Court upheld the individual mandate, interpreting the penalty as a constitutional exercise of Congress's taxing power. However, the Court struck down the mandatory Medicaid expansion as unconstitutional, ruling that it violated state sovereignty by coercing states into compliance through the threat of withholding existing Medicaid funds. This decision reinforced the balance of power between the federal government and the states while affirming significant portions of the ACA.
The tiny federal agency is currently commandeering state licensing agencies in all 50 states and several U.S. territories. It now wants to codify the overreach in a regulation. This must be stopped.
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Jeremy Bagott, a licensed appraiser and former newspaperman, sends up a warning flare in his 2019 book “Dispatches from the Cosmic Cobra Breeding Farm.” He takes the reader deep inside a tiny Washington, D.C., foundation that has managed to have its copyrighted code of conduct enshrined in federal and state law. All 50 states, even the U.S. territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, now enforce it. The nonprofit, known as the Appraisal Foundation, has parlayed the arrangement into a lucrative publishing cartel. In his journey, the author uncovers a troubling trend deep in the plumbing of government.
