The Supreme Court’s Latest Voting Rights Case
(This is the last of five commentaries on recent Supreme Court decisions.) The Fifteenth Amendment, adopted five years after Civil War ended, was designed primarily to secure the right to vote for newly-freed slaves. Section 1 of the Amendment provides that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied […]
The Defense of Marriage Act Case: A Carcass for Constitutional Vultures
(This is the fourth of several short commentaries on recent Supreme Court decisions.) U.S. v. Windsor—the case in which the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)—is a carcass from which constitutional flesh-pickers will feast for a very long time. It is one of those cases like Dred Scott v. Sandford or […]
Justices Make It Tougher for State Universities to Discriminate, But Not Tough Enough
(This is the third of several short commentaries on recent Supreme Court decisions.) The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Fisher v. University of Texas has made it tougher for state universities to run their ethnic spoils systems. But not tough enough. First, the background: The Fourteenth Amendment requires states to extend “equal protection of the […]
Do the Feds Belong in Indian Adoption Law? (Together with another Natelson citation in the Supreme Court and an acknowledgment of Lisa Morris)
(Note: This is the second of several short commentaries on recent Supreme Court decisions.) There is little more heart-rending than the sorrow of a child. The sorrow of a child—and of her adoptive parents—created one of the Supreme Court’s more compelling cases this term. I was happy to be cited extensively in one of the […]
Without The Constitution You Might Be Someone’s Slave Today—And Other Crucial Facts About The Founding
On June 14, I keynoted a conference on the American Founding. The conference was sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, an educational and publishing non-profit that focuses on civic education for college students. The keynote included six crucial facts about the framing and ratification of our Constitution: First: The Constitution was the product of careful […]
The Breakdown of America
A nation’s health and prosperity depends on good institutions. These institutions are political and private. Good political institutions include balanced government with a significant amount of popular control, the rule of law, freedom from corruption, and respect for individual rights. Good private sector institutions include free and open markets and positive moral codes in religious […]
The Constitutional Convention Did Not Exceed Its Power and the Constitution is not “Unconstitutional”
Judging by recent claims in the media such as this one, there is still a lot of life in the old tale (dating back to the Anti-Federalists) that the 1787 federal convention “ran away” and that the Constitution was unconstitutionally adopted. I’ve dealt with both claims in this column occasionally (see, e.g., here and here), […]
Top Denver Post Columnist Exposes Weakness of Anti-TABOR Theory
Veteran Denver Post (and former Rocky Mountain News) columnist Vincent Carroll writes here about the overweaning ambition of those who support the anti-TABOR lawsuit. That lawsuit claims that because Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) imposes fiscal limits on the power of the state legislature—that is, restricts lawmakers’ power to tax, spend, and borrow— it […]
Protect Democracy: Avoid Election-Day Registration
Carting uninformed, transient voters to the polls to vote for the political boss-man is a time-dishonored practice of demagogues everywhere. It has been proposed for Colorado, but it has no place here. Some historical perspective: America has a long tradition of democratic governance. By the time our American Constitution was adopted, nearly all states had […]
Why the Framers Could Suggest Ratification by Only Nine States
In prior postings such as the one here, I have explained why it is wrong to claim that the commissioners (delegates) to the 1787 Constitutional Convention exceeded their power in recommending that the Articles of Confederation be replaced by a new instrument. Another aspect of the same charge is that the Framers exceed their power […]
How the Courts have Clarified the Constitution's Amendment Process
One source of security we have in using the Constitution’s amendment process is that the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have a long history of protecting the integrity of the procedure. Many of those who pontificate on the subject are largely unaware of this jurisprudence. Some have never investigated it. Some think the courts […]
It's Been Done Before: A Convention of the States to Propose Constitutional Amendments
In 1861, the states held a dry run for an Article V “convention for proposing amendments.” The event was the Washington Conference Convention or Washington Peace Conference. It was called by the Virginia legislature in January of 1861 in an effort to avert the Civil War. The idea was that the convention would draft and […]
