Caldara’s Newsletter 02-24-17
As I write this, we are anxiously awaiting word from the US Supreme Court on whether or not they will hear our challenge of McCain-Fiengold disclosure laws. Our question is: Do we lose our First Amendment right of free speech just because an election is within 90 days. Should the calendar trump free speech? (See, […]
2017 Colorado Energy Outlook
In the wake of one of the most surprising electoral outcomes in recent memory, we here at the Independence Institute have been assessing what the next few months, the 2017 Colorado legislative session, and the general future of energy policy in Colorado will look like under a President-elect Trump administration and a split legislature with […]
Three New Supreme Court Cases Show in Some Areas, the Constitution No Longer Matters
Note: This article originally appeared at CNS News. An earlier version included unauthorized editing and should be disregarded. Three recent Supreme Court decisions reveal in the area of personal rights, most of the justices are applying rules unrelated to the U.S. Constitution. In two of the cases, the majority refused to protect rights expressly laid […]
Masters v. School District Number 1
The Independence Institute has long been a champion of tenure reform, local control, and flexibility in the realm of school and district personnel decisions. In 2010, the Institute was part of a broad, bipartisan coalition supporting Senate Bill 191, Colorado’s teacher evaluation and tenure reform bill. It continues to defend SB 191’s critical reforms from both […]
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?”
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 […]
Victory for II Legal Action
Validation for Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and relief for ratepayers. We applaud the SCOTUS decision.
The Impending Convention for Proposing Amendments — Part V
Note: This series of six articles originally appeared in the Washington Post’s “Volokh Conspiracy,” a leading constitutional law website. Parts I II, III, and IV appear below this post, and Part VI will be posted in the near future. How the Convention for Proposing Amendments Became the Subject of Popular Mythology Throughout the century and […]
The Constitution’s Article V, Not the 10th Amendment, Gives State Legislatures Their Power in the Amendment Process
Note: An earlier version of this article appeared in The American Thinker. Some advocates of a convention for proposing amendments are endangering the Article V movement by claiming the states can use the Tenth Amendment to control the convention process. They are doing so even though the judiciary, including the U.S. Supreme Court, has held […]
October 29 Colorado Energy Cheat Sheet: Hickenlooper vs. Coffman over EPA lawsuit; EPA spill report short on info says New Mexico; Frack or Treat
Attorney General Cynthia Coffman’s decision to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to implement the Clean Power Plan has initiated a constitutional battle in the eyes of Governor John Hickenlooper: Gov. John Hickenlooper said Monday he will seek the state Supreme Court’s opinion on the legality of Attorney General Cynthia Coffman’s lawsuit to stop implementation […]
The Constitution's Financial Terms
Note: This was originally a four-part series published at the leading constitutional law website, “The Volokh Conspiracy,” which is affiliated with the Washington Post. This succession of four parts discusses such questions as why the Supreme Court was wrong to characterize the Obamacare insurance penalty as a “tax,” why the apportionment requirement was adopted and […]