The Government as Public Trust—One Roman Emperor Showed It Is Feasible
“A public office is a public trust”—common saying, but do we really believe it? The American Founders did. Most of them agreed that public officials should be held at least to the standards imposed on private trustees and other fiduciaries—maybe even higher standards, since government officials can do more damage than private fiduciaries. (A fiduciary—from […]
House Rules Committee: “Violate Your Oath No Matter How You Vote!”
It’s a stunning betrayal of all those hardworking, pro-Constitution Americans who gave U.S. House Republicans their majority. Republicans controlling the House Rules Committee have added sweeping new mandates on the states to a bill repealing part of Obamacare. The result is revised H.R. 5. Just on good government grounds, those two very different items do […]
Why an Amendments Convention is not a “Constitutional Convention”
Sometimes a convention for proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution is referred to as a “constitutional convention.” That title is both wrong and fatally misleading. The correct name—given by the Constitution itself—is convention for proposing amendments. Other accurate names are amendments convention, Article V convention, or convention of the states. In the Founding Era and […]
The Great Forgetting
The meaning of some of the Constitution’s 18th century terminology was lost during the 19th century, leading to widespread misunderstanding.
II files unique Supreme Court brief in Obamacare case
We have just filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief with the Supreme Court arguing that (1) under current Supreme Court rulings, Obamacare’s individual mandate, if it can be justified at all, must be justified under the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause, and (2) scholarly research into the meaning of the Necessary and […]
Contraceptives and Catholic hospitals: The primary issue is Obamacare, not the First Amendment
Does the mandate forcing Catholic hospitals to offer abortifacients and contraception violate the First Amendment? The surprising answer is: Probably not. True, there are serious moral and political issues inherent in requiring religious institutions to offer “treatments” they find theologically offensive. But, despite the claims of many Catholic and conservative commentators, the U.S. Department of […]
Are the detainment provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act serious?
Are the detainment provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act serious? Yes they are. This is a complicated area, and there has been a lot of word-fudging in spinning this subject. So bear with me as we take things step by step. * The U.S. Constitution generally guarantees the “Privilege of the Writ of […]
Chickens come home to roost: Obama’s plan to cut federal aid to colleges that don’t limit tuition increases
I observe with some satisfaction that the higher-education establishment is finally learning that if you play with snakes you get bitten. It is no secret that academics were heavily in President Obama’s corner when he ran for President in 2008. Part of the reason was his commitment to transfer other people’s money to them—i.e., more […]
Some Questions for “Progressives” Carping about the Citizens United Campaign Finance Case
The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC has generated a great deal of uninformed, and sometimes hypocritical, whining. In Citizens United, the Supreme Court held that people organized in the corporate form have the same First Amendment rights they enjoy when they organize in other ways. Some opponents of the decision are even […]
II submits brief to protect states from Obamacare bullying
II is submitting not merely one, but two separate brief to the U.S. Supreme Court opposing Obamacare. One will show why the mandate that individuals buy government-approved insurance is unconstitutional. The other, which has now been filed, shows that Obamacare’s Medicaid mandates imposed on states also are unconstitutional. Both briefs are based on a powerful […]
The Little-Known—but Seminal—York Town Convention of 1777
The U.S. Constitution authorizes a “convention for proposing amendments” to offer amendments for ratification (or rejection) by the states. The mechanism has never been used (all amendments have come from Congress), and many people have been curious about how it is supposed to work. But that’s because they are unaware of the long series of […]
Another Treasure Hunt: Tracking Down Bits from the American Founding
Every once in a while I tell about one of my historical treasure hunts. Here’s another: When the Constitution was being debated, Anti-Federalists warned that it contained insufficient safeguards against an overweening government. They asserted that some constitutional language could be twisted by unscrupulous advocates of “big government” to justify centralized federal power. The argument […]
