The 4th Edition of Prof. Natelson’s Article V Treatise Is Now Here!!
In 2014 the first legal treatise ever on the Constitution’s amendment process was published: Prof. Rob Natelson’s work, State Initiation of Constitutional Amendments: A Guide for Lawyers and Legislative Drafters. The work was commissioned by the Convention of States Project of Citizens for Self Governance. Over the past two years, the treatise has undergone updating and expansion. […]
Cruz Withdrawal Postpones “Natural Born” Issue
This article first appeared in the Forth Worth Star Telegram. A silver lining to the withdrawal of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, from the presidential race is that we will be spared a battle over whether he met the Constitution’s requirement the president be a “natural born citizen.” The evidence is not all one way, but […]
Is the “Compact for America” Procedure to Amend the Constitution Constitutional?—An Update
Because of widespread interest in the Article V Information Center’s report on the legality of the “Compact for America” approach to amending the Constitution, we are reprinting it here. Distilled to its essence, the “Compact” approach is unconstitutional because it seeks to change, through state legislative action (statutes and interstate compacts), the amendment procedure specified in […]
Newly-Published Ratification Documents Confirm Our Conclusions on the Amendment Process
The Wisconsin Historical Society publishes successive volumes of the Documentary History of the Constitution of the United States. As its name indicates, the Documentary History is a multi-volume set of books containing documents from the debates over the Constitution’s ratification. The Wisconsin Historical Society published fairly recently two volumes from the debates in Maryland. There […]
Ranking the Presidents Using CONSTITUTIONAL Factors Rather than Liberal Politics
This article was first published by CNSNews. In an earlier post, I pointed out that the usual academic rankings of presidents are flawed. They are flawed because they rely on criteria not in the Constitution’s job description for the president. As a result, academic rankings consistently overrate liberal activist presidents and underrate those who conscientiously […]
Measuring Good and Bad Presidents: Why Academic Historians Are Wrong
This article was first posted at CNS News. I recently watched an academic panel on C-SPAN devoted to “The Worst Presidents In American History.” It was sponsored by the Organization of American Historians. As is true of so many academic panels today, it was “diverse” in the sense that the participants were of different races […]
Book Review: Stealing America: What My Experience with Criminal Gangs Taught Me About Obama, Hillary, and the Democratic Party
I expected this book, written by Dinesh D’Souza and published by Broadside Books, to be bitter. For one thing, the title conveys bitterness. And Dinesh D’Souza has reason to be bitter: A first offender, he had been threatened with prison and then sentenced to confinement for an offense usually not even prosecuted: two misreported […]
Is the “Compact for America” Plan to Amend the Constitution Constitutional? Unfortunately not.
II’s Article V Information Center has just issued a law report concluding that the “Compact for America” approach to amending the Constitution is, unfortunately, almost wholly unconstitutional.
New Article on What “Taxes” Are (And Aren’t) Under the Constitution, and the Implications for Obamacare
Was the Supreme Court right to call Obamacare’s insurance penalty a “tax?”
What is an Amendments Convention “Application?” What is a “Call?”
Article V of the Constitution states that “The Congress . . . on Applications of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments.”
Latest Update on Applications for a Convention for Proposing Amendments
Georgia Lawyer and Article V expert Dave Guldenschuh has just issued his latest update on Article V amendment activity around the country. You can retrieve it here.
When They Start Throwing Black’s Law Dictionary at You—Duck!
If you are involved in politics, sooner or later someone will “prove” his point by quoting to you a line from Black’s Law Dictionary, Corpus Juris Secundum, or a similar source. He may tell you that these are “definitive” legal sources, not to be doubted. Whatever he’s selling, don’t buy it. These sources are not […]
