Two Overreaching GOP House Bills Show Why We Need a Convention of States
Two bills introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives show that whatever they may say on the campaign trail, many Republicans in Congress don’t have much more respect for federalism, states’ rights, or local control than Democrats do. These two bills also demonstrate, if further demonstration be needed, that Congress has broken almost all constitutional […]
More Evidence That Warren Burger Was Defending Roe v. Wade When He Opposed A Convention of States
More evidence has turned up that the late Chief Justice Warren Burger was defending his Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade when he wrote three letters opposing the Article V convention process. Burger’s letters frequently are cited as authority by opponents of a “convention of states.” However, in an earlier posting I noted that the […]
New Origination Clause Article Now Published
The Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy has now published my article on the Origination Clause. That’s the article documenting the research that found—contrary to all expectations—that the taxes in Obamacare were validly adopted. But it also found that the regulations and appropriations in Obamacare were invalidly adopted. You can read a summary of […]
Obamacare’s Constitutionality and the Origination Clause: New Evidence
This article originally appeared at the American Thinker. One of the constitutional disputes triggered by the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, is whether by substituting new material for the original House-passed bill (H.R. 3590), the Senate exceeded its constitutional power to amend the original measure. This, in turn, has provoked a debate over whether the Founders […]
The Arkansas-Indiana Religious Freedom Controversy: “Progressive” Hypocrisy On Display
This article originally appeared at CNS News. When two of the largest corporations in the world—Walmart and Apple Computer—pressured Indiana and Arkansas politicians not to adopt laws protecting religious freedom, did you hear any howls against “corporate lobbying” or “corporate money” or corporate meddling in politics? Chances are you didn’t. Because Walmart and Apple were […]
So What is This “Amendments Convention” Thing? A Quick Intro
Are you a journalist or other citizen who needs a quick overview of the Constitution’s Article V “Convention for Proposing Amendments?” Get our issue paper, “Curing Federal Dysfunction by Constitutional Amendment: A Primer.” It’s a vital resource for anyone who wants a quick and accurate overview of the process. It explains what a Convention for […]
VA Scandals—Only the Latest Example of the Failure of Socialism
To know more about socialized medicine—and our future under Obamacare—check out the Department of Veterans’ Affairs health care scandals. The scandals encompass service failure, egregious cost overruns and delays, and basic failures (such as blood test mixups) that would be comical if not so dangerous. The VA hospital situation in Denver is a case in […]
The Principles of the Common Law
Although the Constitution is not, strictly speaking, a common law document, it was written against the backdrop of common law. The term “common law” has various meanings, but the meaning I’m using here is the system of case law we inherited from England, including the bodies of jurisprudence known as admiralty and equity. That system […]
How Liberal Propagandists Fooled Conservatives into Opposing an Amendments Convention
This article originally appeared at CNS News. Some conservative groups have become known for uncompromising opposition to the Constitution’s convention method of proposing constitutional amendments. They may think they are protecting the republic. But it turns out that they are mostly carrying water for the liberal establishment. New research shows that nearly all the arguments […]
Where Chief Justice Burger Likely Got His Anti-Amendment Convention Views
This article originally appeared in the American Thinker. Opponents of the Constitution’s Article V convention method of proposing amendments tout three letters written in the 1980s by former Chief Justice Warren Burger. In those letters, Burger took a very hard line against any convention of states that might bypass Congress and propose corrective constitutional amendments. […]
Why the Senators’ Letter to Iran Was Both Appropriate and Legally Necessary
This article first appeared at the American Thinker website. Suppose you are in a general partnership with Smith. Smith handles day-to-day management, subject to your approval. But recently, he’s been acting somewhat high-handedly. Without consulting you, Smith is busy negotiating a contract with Macropus International Corp., a company notorious for unscrupulous practices. Smith has made […]
Yet Another Multi-State Convention Uncovered
For many years, opponents of a convention for proposing amendments argued that the law governing such a convention was unknowable because the only precedent for such a gathering was the Constitutional Convention of 1787. This was always an ignorant claim, since even high schoolers learn that Annapolis, Maryland hosted a “convention of states” the previous […]
