And You “Can’t” Defund Obamacare . . . Why?
Freedom and popular government in Britain and America became possible because over the course of many years the House of Commons, and later the American colonial legislatures, were willing to exert the power of the purse to discipline an overreaching executive. In Britain, the House of Commons—Parliament’s lower chamber—sometimes defunded the executive in order to […]
The Problems With Repealing the Direct Election of Senators/17th Amendment
Some political activists argue for repeal of the 17th amendment. In other words, they want to end popular elections of U.S. Senators and return to the original constitutional system of election by state legislatures. Repeal advocates argue that the pre-17th amendment system better preserved federalism than does direct election. Whatever the theoretical merits of their […]
Must the Federal Government Honor an "Equal Protection" Rule?
Does the Constitution require the federal government to afford “equal protection of the laws?” At first glance at the Constitution’s text, it would appear not. There is no general Equal Protection Clause in the Constitution applying to the federal government—although there are a lot of clauses requiring equal treatment in specific situations. The Equal Protection […]
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 […]
Breakdown in the Americans’ Respect for the Rule of Law?
Some commentators and compilers have sensed what they believe is a weakening of the rule of law in the United States. I’ve documented an example in one state. Conduct surrounding the George Zimmerman case provides additional cause for concern, including prejudicial comments by President Obama and rioting subsequent to acquittal. To his credit, President Obama […]
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 […]
Justice Thomas, Quoting Rob Natelson, Had the Constitution Correct In the Arizona Citizenship-for-Voting Case
NOTE: This is the first of several short commentaries on recent Supreme Court decisions. The Supreme Court recently ruled that Arizona’s law requiring proof of citizenship for voting violates federal statutes. In his dissent, Justice Thomas relied heavily on my own research. The Independence Institute did not participate in that case. So how did it […]
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 […]
New Evidence Suggests Obama’s “Recess Appointments” Are Not Valid
Litigation over President Obama’s “recess appointments” to the National Labor Relations Board is going to the Supreme Court. A similar battle is being waged among lawyers about whether the President’s appointments to that Board, and to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are constitutional. At stake is the legal validity of hundreds of administrative decisions and […]
Why We Must Act Now To Use the Constitution’s Amendment Process to Restore Fiscal Sanity
Following is an address I gave in Orlando Florida on April 26, 2013 on the need to use the Constitution’s Convention-Amendment Process to rein in Congress: My initial background was in the private sector, but I served many years in academia. I spent much of that time teaching constitutional law and constitutional history to aspiring […]
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 […]
