How Can Congress Spend All that Money? – Part I
[For more info on this topic, see Rob’s book, The Original Constitution, or listen to the interview, What in the Constitution Gives Authority to Congress to Spend Our Money? part 1] How can a government that supposedly is one of enumerated powers spend trillions of dollars on everything from semi-porn art exhibits to bridges that […]
The latest health care decision
The score is now 2-2: Two U.S. district courts have found that the individual mandates in last year’s federal health care act are authorized by the power of Congress to “regulate Commerce . . . among the several States,” while two have found the contrary. This latest decision – arising from a case brought by […]
Does Congress really have authority to regulate campaign finance?
[Rob Natelson is the author of the new book, The Original Constitution: What it Actually Said and Meant. To learn more about this topic, hear Rob’s podcast Election Law and the Election Clause.] The Constitution granted Congress only enumerated powers. Did those powers include measures of “campaign finance reform?” Congress justifies campaign regulation as flowing […]
Madison being misread (on an amendments convention)
Sometimes even friends of the Constitution misinterpret the document or the history surrounding it. Throughout the country right now, state lawmakers are advancing constitutional amendments to restrain federal power and federal spending. Because they know that Congress will never propose amendments to restrain itself (2/3 of both the Senate and House would have to approve […]
Reading the Constitution: What it told us about Congress
[Rob Natelson is the author of The Original Constitution: What It Really Said and Meant – an objective explanation of the Constitution as understood by the Founders.] Unlike some both on the right and the left, I don’t think the reading of the Constitution in Congress was a purely symbolic or useless endeavor. It was […]
Confused about a constitutional phrase? The law of the Founders often provides the answer
[Rob Natelson is the author of The Original Constitution: What It Really Said and Meant – an objective explanation of the Constitution as understood by the Founders.] One of the most neglected tools for understanding the Constitution is also one of the most important: The Law of the 18th century. The Constitution is a legal […]
The Feds’ Nosy Survey
[Rob Natelson is the author of The Original Constitution: What It Really Said and Meant – an objective explanation of the Constitution as understood by the Founders.] The people who run the federal government may not be able to balance its budget or even pass an appropriation bill on time, but they certainly can tell […]
Does the Constitution really give Congress power over immigration?
Congress’s power to “define and punish . . . Offenses against the Law of Nations” included authority to “define” immigration rules and “punish” those who violated them.
How to amend the Constitution safely and without Congress — according to the Founders
“How to” Issue Papers on obtaining needed constitutional amendments without the consent of Congress.
Constitutional Breakdown: How the GOP-Dem Tax and Spend Compromise Throttles the Voters’ Will
The impending taxing and spending compromise between congressional Republicans and Democrats and the Obama administration demonstrates how the federal constitutional system has broken down. And how the breakdown can sabotage democracy. Under the emerging terms, as reported in the press, the Republicans will receive at least a temporary extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for […]
Was the Constitutional Convention a “Runaway?”
[Rob Natelson is the author of The Original Constitution: What It Really Said and Meant – an objective explanation of the Constitution as understood by the Founders.] There’s an old accusation leveled against the delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. The Convention was a very long time ago, so the accusation shouldn’t matter any more. […]
Airport searches and the Fourth Amendment
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” – […]
