Madison being misread (on an amendments convention)
Sometimes even friends of the Constitution misinterpret the document or the history surrounding it. Throughout the country right now, state lawmakers are advancing constitutional amendments to restrain federal power and federal spending. Because they know that Congress will never propose amendments to restrain itself (2/3 of both the Senate and House would have to approve […]
Does the Constitution really give Congress power over immigration?
Congress’s power to “define and punish . . . Offenses against the Law of Nations” included authority to “define” immigration rules and “punish” those who violated them.
How to amend the Constitution safely and without Congress — according to the Founders
“How to” Issue Papers on obtaining needed constitutional amendments without the consent of Congress.
Was the Constitutional Convention a “Runaway?”
[Rob Natelson is the author of The Original Constitution: What It Really Said and Meant – an objective explanation of the Constitution as understood by the Founders.] There’s an old accusation leveled against the delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. The Convention was a very long time ago, so the accusation shouldn’t matter any more. […]
Airport searches and the Fourth Amendment
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” – […]
Why law professors don’t tell us much about our Constitution
Real scholarship is about facts, not argument.
Twenty Legal Rules for Conventions for Proposing Amendments
(To learn more about this topic, listen Justin Longo’s interview with Rob Natelson — “What Would an Article V Convention Look Like?“) This is the third in a series of three articles about the Constitution’s OTHER method of constitutional amendment – that is, rather than the amendment coming from Congress, the states force a “convention […]
How would a convention for proposing amendments work?
Last week I reported on the growing movement to “save the Constitution by amending it” – the much-precedented process of amending the Constitution to push the government back toward Founding-Era principles. Previous amendments have been proposed by Congress, and ratified by the states. But I noted that Congress is unlikely to propose amendments to limit […]
Amending the Constitution to Save It
To learn more: hear a podcast of “amending the Constitution to save it” at https://ivoices.org/. During the previous year or so there has been more and more interest in the idea of “amending the U.S. Constitution to save it.” Several websites are now devoted to that idea. One illustration is the site entitled “10 Amendments […]
Kagan: Constitution may authorize feds to mandate what you eat
From Michael Tanner at Cato:
Suppose that the federal government, in its infinite wisdom, decided that it would deal with the obesity crisis and improve the health and welfare of the American people — by mandating that every American eat three helpings of vegetables and three helpings of fruit every day. Anyone […]
So What Exactly Will This Amendment Do?
We hear the questions everyday from folks who want to help us collect signatures or who support what we’re doing: what exactly will this initiative do? How in the world can we stop the federal government from imposing Obama Care on us? How many signatures do you guys need? How can I help? Those are […]
Implementing a Just Tax System in Colorado and Strengthening Our Fiscal Constitution
Over much of our history Coloradans have successfully constrained the growth of government through our fiscal constitution. Our State Constitution embodied fiscal rules designed to constrain the power of government to tax and spend, rules requiring a balanced budget, debt limits, and voting and procedural rules. Our fiscal constitution has served us well; our state prospered due in no small part to the fiscal rules embodied in our constitution. However, in the post-WWII period it was clear that our fiscal rules were not constraining the growth of government. Both state and local governments increased taxes and spending grew at rates far in excess of the growth of the private economy. This unconstrained growth of government triggered a tax revolt beginning in the late 1970’s.
