Resisting Federal Usurpation: Comments by Theophilus Parsons
Several years ago, I wrote on this site about the contributions to the American Founding of Josiah Quincy. Another little-known Founder who should be more widely celebrated today was Theophilus Parsons. Parsons was from the same Massachusetts circle that produced Quincy. He was an an outstanding lawyer and an eloquent spokesman for republican government and […]
Get the Latest Edition of Rob’s popular book: THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION!!
Get the latest edition of the popular work, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant. You can buy it in either hard copy or Kindle form here.
The Constitution’s Grants To Persons and Entities Outside the U.S. Government
A little known aspect of our Constitution is that it delegates power, not just to the U.S. Government and to its units, but also to persons and entities outside the U.S. Government. In each case, the power to act is derived ultimately from the Constitution. Even when those persons or entities are states or officeholders […]
The greatest constitutional document of all
This article was first published in The American Thinker. It is said that no second heir to the British throne has been named John because of the reputation of the first. King John (reigned: 1199-1216) could be charming and efficient, but he was ruthless and utterly untrustworthy, and several times he drove his subjects to […]
New II Backgrounder Explains the “Convention of States” Constitutional Amendment Process
A new II Backgrounder contains a brief and clear explanation of how the people, through their state legislatures, can address federal dysfunction while bypassing Congress. The Backgrounder is the first publication of II’s new “Article V Information Center.” You can read it here.
Principles for Drafting A Balanced Budget Amendment
This article originally appeared at The American Thinker. The Article V Handbook, which I authored for the American Legislative Exchange Council, emphasizes that citizens pressing for constitutional amendments should avoid fringe or unpopular proposals. The Handbook distills four guiding principles for selecting amendments worthy of support: (1) An amendment should move America back toward Founding […]
More Evidence An Article V Convention is a “Convention of the States”
Earlier this year, I documented one of the reasons we know an Article V convention is a “convention of the states” rather than a mass popular gathering: Founding Era documents tell us so. I listed several such documents. (Subsequent to the Founding, in the case of Smith v. Union Bank, the Supreme Court also referred […]
One Reason Government Keeps Expanding and Freedom Keeps Shrinking
Find out how much federal land ownership the Constitution really authorizes! Get Rob’s book, The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant. **** Mary Taylor Young’s work, Rocky Mountain National Park: The First 100 Years (2014) contains this profile (p.151) of George B. Hartzog, Jr., the Assistant Superintendent of the park from 1955 to […]
Treatise on Amendments Conventions Updated to Include Rules for Congress’s “Call”
Some people claim the rules pertaining to the Constitution’s “Convention for Proposing Amendments” are largely unknown, but there actually is quite a lot of law on the subject. Earlier this year, I pulled together that body of law in a legal treatise entitled “State Initiation of Constitutional Amendments: A Guide for Lawyers and Legislative Drafters.” […]
Embracing Foreign Languages
Republican Congressman Mike Coffman and his Democratic opponent Andrew Romanoff held a public debate yesterday—all in Spanish. It was billed as the first non-English candidate debate in Colorado state history. Well, maybe not. Hispanics settled Colorado long before Anglos did. When I was practicing law in Denver in the 1970s and 1980s (before embarking on […]
The Washington Post Picks Up the Flag from the Convention Alarmists
The past week saw yet another assault on those reformers who seek to cure federal dysfunction by promoting a “Convention for proposing Amendments.” The latest attack took the form of an opinion column that in content offered nothing new. It featured many of the usual errors of commission and omission: The author confused a “Convention […]
Colorado Goes to the Supreme Court to Defend TABOR
Three years ago, a group of primarily government plaintiffs sued in federal district court to void Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR). TABOR allows the people, not just the legislature, to vote on most tax increases, most debt increases, and some spending hikes. The plaintiffs argued that the 20-year old state constitutional provision violated the […]
