The Impending Convention for Proposing Amendments — Part IV
Note: This series of six articles originally appeared in the Washington Post’s “Volokh Conspiracy,” a leading constitutional law website. Parts I, II, and III appear below this post, and Parts V and VI will be posted in the near future. How the judiciary’s decisions shed light on the federal amendments convention Although there has not […]
Wisdom From A Framer on Federalism, Guns, and the Amendment Process
This article was first published on CNS News. A newly published speech by one of our Framers offers important clues to the constitutional role of the states, of the right to keep and bear arms, and of the amendment process. Charles Carroll of Carrollton represented Maryland at the Constitutional Convention. After the convention was over, […]
Evidence on the Powers the Constitution Leaves Exclusively to the States
This column also appears at CNSNews. The Constitution enumerates the powers of the federal government. But has anyone listed the exclusive powers of states—the realm the federal government may not invade without violating the Constitution? When discussing state authority, the Founders usually pointed out only that the federal government’s powers were, as Madison said, “few […]
Supreme Court’s Obamacare Decision Renders Federal “Tort-Reform” Bill Unconstitutional
Just to show you that hypocrisy is alive and well in Washington, D.C. (as if you didn’t know), Title V of the Republican bill to “repeal and replace Obamacare” contains some of the same constitutional problems that led 27 states to challenge Obamacare. Under Title V, Congress would partially assume command of state jury trials […]
Did the Founders’ Constitution Permit Federal Tort Reform?
NOTE: The photo shows the author at the sundial in James Madison’s garden at Montpelier, VA. On behalf of the national Chamber of Commerce, super-lawyer Paul Clement has authored a new paper arguing that federal tort reform is constitutional. The paper begins with a section purporting to show that the Framers’ Commerce Clause was broad […]
Obamacare Decision Suggests U.S. Malpractice Bill Unconstitutional
Little-noticed amid the commentary on the Supreme Court’s health care decision is the decision’s blow to congressional efforts to federalize medical malpractice law—a potential element of the Republican plan to “replace Obamacare.” Medical malpractice cases, like most areas of civil justice, traditionally are judged by state courts under state law rather than by the national […]
House Rules Committee: “Violate Your Oath No Matter How You Vote!”
It’s a stunning betrayal of all those hardworking, pro-Constitution Americans who gave U.S. House Republicans their majority. Republicans controlling the House Rules Committee have added sweeping new mandates on the states to a bill repealing part of Obamacare. The result is revised H.R. 5. Just on good government grounds, those two very different items do […]
Congress, Butt Out! The Constitution Reserves Malpractice Reform for the States
In their zeal to adopt a federal malpractice reform bill to dictate procedures to state courts, many Republicans in Congress are doing precisely what they rightly accuse Democrats of doing: blithely disregarding the Constitution’s clear limits on federal power. Their proposals, once encapsulated in H.R. 5 and then slipped into the Senate Republican “jobs bill,” […]
Control of the state courts—the latest federal takeover target?
[T]his bill . . . is an attack on state courts and on the civil jury system itself.
