The Constitutional Studies Center combines careful, objective scholarship into the original understanding of the Constitution with advocacy for human freedom under law. It produces books, issue papers, articles, and legal briefs reporting the results of its research. Since 2010, the Center has had enormous influence on constitutional law cases and commentary, but also on policy makers and grass roots activists. For example, the Center’s research findings galvanized the massive and growing “Article V” movement to restore constitutional limits on the federal government.
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II submits brief to protect states from Obamacare bullying0
- January 15, 2012
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
READ MOREThe Little-Known—but Seminal—York Town Convention of 17770
- January 8, 2012
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
READ MOREAnother Treasure Hunt: Tracking Down Bits from the American Founding0
- January 2, 2012
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
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To “regulate” Commerce means more than to “make it regular”0
- December 25, 2011
From time to time I punch holes in “progressive” myths about the Constitution and the American Founding. But conservatives and libertarians have their own myths as well. One is that congressional authority under the Commerce Clause (I-8-3) to “regulate Commerce among the several States” permits Congress only to facilitate trade among the States—i.e., that “to
READ MOREOriginal intent? Understanding? Meaning?0
- December 9, 2011
When the Constitution was written, there were specific legal rules about how one goes about interpreting constitutional phrases. Over the course of time, however, judges and commentators gradually forgot them. In the 1980s, some argued that the courts should “return” to applying the original intent behind the Constitution—that is,what the framers (drafters) of the document
READ MOREMore Constitutional Baby Babble—this time at Vanity Fair0
- December 4, 2011
Vanity Fair’s sophisticated approach to rescuing a drowning man is this: Lecture him about how we all need plenty of water. The tony mag’s new attack on the Tea Party is entitled “Debt and Dumb.” But the attack shows the authors and editors at VF to be the ones either deaf or dumb: Either deaf
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Contact
Rob Natelson, Senior Fellow, Constitutional Jurisprudence
Email: rob.natelson1@gmail.com
Phone: 303-279-6536, ext 114