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 […]
Antonin Scalia, RIP
Justice Antonin Scalia was one of the most eloquent opinion writers in the history of the United States Supreme Court–perhaps the greatest of all. His dissents may have been the most powerful ever written. Justice Scalia was more than an outstanding lawyer: He was an perceptive social commentator. In tribute, I reproduce below his […]
What Does the Constitution Say About Federal Land Ownership?
The “Bundy stand-off” in Oregon at a federal wildlife refuge has triggered (or, rather, re-triggered) questions about the constitutionality of federal land ownership. Westerners in particular question why the federal government should own nearly 30% of the country. In the West, the issue is particularly important. The federal government has title to about half the […]
