Constitution and Corona Virus

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin “The Constitution is not a suicide pact.”  Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson “If the government will not protect constitutional rights designed to preserve our freedom, it is up to the people to reclaim them.”  Wisconsin […]

The 225th Anniversary of the Bill of Rights, Part II

When reflecting on the first ten amendments to the American Constitution, or the Bill of Rights, focus is often on the great freedoms of religion, speech, press and the right to bear arms.  The Bill of Rights became 225 years old on December 15, 2016. With that in mind, it is worth a moment to […]

Consider State Constitutions When the Supreme Court Fails

The United States Supreme Court, in Utah v. Strieff , continued on its course of ominously undermining Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by limiting the application of the exclusionary rule.[1]  The result is an invitation for police to randomly and unreasonably arrest[2] citizens without the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of probable cause. The Fourth Amendment directly […]

Appellate Court: Plaintiffs Offered No Proof NSA Violated Their Rights

“Plaintiffs must realize that secrecy is yet another form of regulation, prescribing not ‘what the citizen may do’ but instead ‘what the citizen may know.’”  US Appellate Court Judge Janice Rogers Brown “…the public has no interest in saving the government from the burdens of complying with the Constitution.”  US District Court Judge Richard Leon […]

The Constitution’s Sixteenth Amendment: Result of Political Miscalculation

When April 15th rolls around as they labor toward the filing deadline for income taxes, Americans would be forgiven if they were to become nostalgic about Patrick Henry’s opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765 and his call for the death of the King[1] because of a required government stamp on most documents in the […]

Courageous NSA Ruling by Judge Leon Respects Privacy and Fourth Amendment

On December 16, 2013 US District Court Judge Richard Leon took on arguments[1] that over the years have been used to expand government intrusion into American life in ways that would have left James Madison “aghast”.[2] His opinion in Klayman v. Obama finds much of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance collection of “telephony metadata” […]