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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Latest Posts
Supreme Court’s New First Amendment Decision Unrelated to the First Amendment0
- March 3, 2011
Commentators and journalists sometimes describe the current U.S. Supreme Court as “conservative.” But that’s not true if your definition of a conservative justice is a traditional or “originalist” jurist—that is, one who applies the Constitution as the American people understood it when they adopted it. Consider, for example, the Court’s latest First Amendment case. The
READ MORENew paper summarizes rules for amending the Constitution0
- February 25, 2011
Our sister institution, The Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, Arizona has just published my paper, Amending the Constitution by Convention: Practical Guidance for Citizens and Policymakers. Using my prior research and new findings, it summarizes the rules you should use in drafting Article V applications, answering objections, heading off congressional interference, and so forth. As I’ve
READ MOREAmendments Convention: Answering Those Not-So-Tough Questions0
- February 19, 2011
Are you a state lawmaker or reform advocate challenged to answer “tough questions” about a Convention for Proposing Amendments? If so, here are some answers. Recently I traveled to Indianapolis to testify before the Indiana legislature. While there, I learned that opponents of an amendments convention are circulating questions about a convention, apparently designed to
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How Can Congress Spend All that Money? – Part II0
- February 11, 2011
In my last post, I explained that Congress obtains authority to spend money from its enumerated powers. All of those powers inherently require some expenditures—at least to buy the pen and ink needed to write the laws. Some powers, such as the power to “maintain a Navy” (Art. I, Sec. 8, cl. 13) require expenditure
READ MOREHow Can Congress Spend All that Money? – Part I0
- February 6, 2011
[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
READ MOREThe latest health care decision0
- January 31, 2011
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
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Contact
Rob Natelson, Senior Fellow, Constitutional Jurisprudence
Email: rob.natelson1@gmail.com
Phone: 303-279-6536, ext 114