CONSTITUTION - Uncategorized - Independence Institute

The Framers’ Bloopers 0
- January 12, 2014
The Constitution’s Framers were very great men, but they were not gods. They made mistakes. By “mistakes,” I’m not talking about matters of political judgment, such as how much to accommodate slavery. I mean drafting errors of the forehead-slapping kind. Consider first a matter of style: The Constitution in its final form was drafted by
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Bennett-Burr “Bipartisanship” = Yet Another Federal Power Grab 0
- December 29, 2013
When politicians start talking about “bi-partisan cooperation,” smart citizens get nervous. It usually means another transfer of freedom and taxes to the federal government at the expense of individuals, families, localities, and states. Case in point: a Denver Post op-ed by two U.S. Senators (or their staffs) on their latest “bipartisan” deal. The Senators are
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How the Contracts Clause was gutted—and how SCOTUS’ early efforts to correct this have been ignored 0
- December 17, 2013
The Constitution lists several things states may not do. Article I, Section 10 provides that “No State shall . . . pass any . . . law impairing the Obligation of Contracts.” This clause was inserted to curb state “debtor relief” laws that the Framers believed were immoral and rendered bad economic conditions worse. Founding-Era
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The Meaning of the Commerce Power and Congress’s and the Courts’ Use (And Abuse) Of It 0
- December 14, 2013
Are you interested in the true meaning of, and limits on, the Constitution’s much-abused Commerce Power? In a speech at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on November 19, 2013, I outlined the intended scope of the power, how I reached my conclusions, and how the Supreme Court has stretched the Commerce Power
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Politicos Pigging Out on the Cash You Pay for Gas 0
- December 8, 2013
The Framers drafted the Constitution to grant Congress some powers to construct infrastructure. For example, the Commerce Clause, as originally understood, grants authority to construct facilities for navigation such as dockyards and ports—including, presumably, airports. Authority to maintain the military enables Congress to fund military facilities. Article I, Section 1, Clause 8 empowers Congress to
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A Question: Where Did the Story Get Started that Most of the Founders were Deists?0
- December 3, 2013
It is a common claim that most of the Founders were deists. (A deist is a person who believes that there is a Creator but that He is not actively involved in the world—the “great watchmaker” hypothesis.) As many authors have shown, the claim is false: Tom Paine aside, almost all the leading Founders professed
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