Understanding the Constitution: the 14th Amendment: Part I
- Constitution
- November 15, 2021
. . . [A]ctivities over which the Constitution granted the federal government little or no jurisdiction [included] social services . . . education, religion, real estate, local businesses, most roads and other infrastructure, nearly all criminal law matters, and most civil court cases.
READ MOREKeep reading even if you are not from Montana: This article is a lesson on how judges should not conduct themselves.
READ MOREThe Founders erected the American legal system to operate in the context of Anglo-American judicial values. The rules placed expressly or implicitly in the Constitution . . . were designed to operate in that context. However, the context changed.
READ MOREJustice Antonin Scalia was one of the most eloquent opinion writers in the history of the United States Supreme Court–perhaps the greatest of all. His dissents may have been the most powerful ever written. Justice Scalia was more than an outstanding lawyer: He was an perceptive social commentator. In tribute, I reproduce below his
READ MORENote: This was originally a four-part series published at the leading constitutional law website, “The Volokh Conspiracy,” which is affiliated with the Washington Post. This succession of four parts discusses such questions as why the Supreme Court was wrong to characterize the Obamacare insurance penalty as a “tax,” why the apportionment requirement was adopted and
READ MOREIn a recent post, I pointed out that, despite superficial appearances, the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause—clarifying that Congress has authority to make laws “necessary and proper” to carrying out its other enumerated powers—actually grants Congress no power. The Necessary and Proper Clause is representative of one of four related kinds of provisions found in
READ MORE