Yes, Mr. President—You Must Enforce Laws You Don’t Like
Must the president enforce laws he doesn’t like? The answer to this question lies in the Constitution’s phrase that the president “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
Did Congress Approve the Constitution? A Member’s Letter Says “Yes”
Some people argue the Constitution was adopted illegally. They assert that the Confederation Congress needed to approve the document, but never did. But principles of law tell us that they are wrong. So does a rarely-mentioned letter from a member of the Confederation Congress. It is true that most (not all) of the resolutions by […]
This Resolution Suggests Congress Did Agree to a Broad Constitutional Convention
On April 23, 1787, the Confederation Congress extended the post office franking privilege to all commissioners about to attend the Constitutional Convention. In other words, Congress gave to convention delegates the same privilege to send and receive free mail its own members enjoyed. Why is that important? Because it tends to show that Congress accepted […]
Changed Conditions May Justify Term Limits
This is the full version of an op-ed first appearing in the Detroit Daily News. Advocates for term limits want to amend the Constitution to add them. Their most common argument is that restricting how long an elected official may serve will curb special interest influence and other federal abuse. The Articles of Confederation, the document […]
What Connecticut’s Authorizing Documents Tell Us About the Constitutional Convention—and About Modern Misinterpretations
On May 11, 1787, the Samuel Huntington, the governor of Connecticut, addressed his state legislature about the pending Constitutional Convention. Shortly thereafter the legislature adopted a law governing Connecticut’s participation in the gathering—the eleventh state to do so. (Only Maryland acted later.) The governor’s remarks, and the ensuing legislative resolution, illustrate the following: * The […]
Could Congress Control an Amendments Convention? Not According to the Founders!
As we move closer to holding a “convention for proposing amendments” to restrain federal overreach, naysayers have not been silent. One of their claims is an amendments convention would be fruitless or dangerous because it could be controlled by Congress. The Constitution directs Congress to “call” an amendments convention when two thirds of the state […]
Originalist Research Guide Updated
Scholarly investigation into our Constitution’s actual meaning—or, more precisely, into the Constitution’s legal force immediately after adoption—commonly is called “originalist” research. Until fairly recently, the quality of originalist research was fairly low. Most of it was conducted by law professors with little background in historical method or in founding-era language or social conditions. Moreover, most […]
The 37th “Convention of States” Discovered!
Recently a professor teaching constitutional law at a prestigious university wrote in one of the nation’s top newspapers that we should oppose an Article V convention of states in part because the 1787 Constitutional Convention is “the only precedent we have.” As occurs too often among law professors, he obviously had not researched the subject […]
More Founding-Era Evidence that Some State Functions Derive Only From the Constitution (With Some Comments on the Amendment Process)
In prior posts, I’ve discussed two key elements of constitutional law: 1. The Constitution grants some powers to persons and entities other than the federal government. These persons and entities include state legislatures, state governors, state conventions, the Article V “Convention for proposing Amendments,” Congress as a free-standing assembly, and the Electoral College. 2. When […]
Rob and “The Original Constitution”
Rob discusses why he wrote his popular book, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant, in this Independence Institute Freedom Minute.
What the 1777 Georgia Constitution Tells Us About the Article V Convention Process
When interpreting a legal document, you often can get clues from looking at any predecessors to the document. For example, what did earlier drafts say? What did previous documents that served as models provide? Did the framers of the final version mirror earlier wording, or did they change it? If a phrase in an earlier […]
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 […]
