December 15, 2016 was the 225th anniversary of one of the great achievements in the history of mankind: affirmation of the inalienable rights of man and specific limits on the power of government to interfere with the rights we are all born with under the laws of nature and nature’s God. These rights were affirmed […]
Compact for America Solution to Article V Convention Issues According to the Founders, Part II
This the second in a series of articles that examine the Founders’ opinions on how the Article V Convention process should have clear focus. The US Constitution’s Article V provides two methods for proposing constitutional amendments. The Compact for America is an initiative to employ the method that has not been used: a convention of […]
Compact for America Solution to Article V Convention Issues According to the Founders, Part I
The goal of the Compact for America (“CFA”) initiative is for the states to propose and ratify the powerful balanced budget amendment that is contained in the Compact for a Balanced Budget into the United States Constitution in as little as one session year, with a target of July 4, 2017, and a “do or die” date of April […]
Sixth Amendment’s Speedy Trial Right: Ancient, Worthy and Elusive
The Constitution’s Bill of Rights contains many protections for those the government accuses of having committed a crime. Among them is the Sixth Amendment right to a “speedy trial”. The provision is stated: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy … trial” The right may has old roots and […]
The Sixth Amendment’s Right to the Assistance of Counsel
Thanks to television police reading the Miranda Warnings people are familiar with a criminal defendant’s right to an attorney and that an indigent defendant may have appointed counsel. Such protections have not always been part of United States law. The right to an attorney is found in the Constitution’s Sixth Amendment. The Sixth Amendment was ratified as part of the Bill […]
Fourth Amendment Probable Cause for a Warrantless Arrest
A police officer cannot arrest a citizen without a warrant based upon a hunch or mere suspicion. He must have “probable cause”. The US Constitution‘s Fourth Amendment[1] requires a warrant for a person or his property to be “seized” or searched by a government agent. The law has developed allowing government agents to conduct warrantless […]
The Sixth Amendment, One Amendment, Six Constitutional Rights
The Sixth Amendment contains rights beyond the well-known right to an attorney in criminal matters. There are six constitutional rights in the Sixth Amendment. They are procedural rights designed to protect an individual’s inalienable natural rights of life and liberty found in the Declaration of Independence. The Sixth Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights, […]
The Seventeenth Amendment: Destroying State Sovereignty
From 1789 to 1913 the power to choose United States Senators was vested by the Constitution in the State legislatures. The Seventeenth Amendment altered the process by providing for direct election of Senators by the people. This fundamentally altered a carefully balanced power structure built into the unamended Constitution that served important purposes: to limit federal power […]
The Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution
“The Tenth Amendment is the foundation of the Constitution.” – Thomas Jefferson Among the questions raised by opponents of the Constitution during the ratification debates was the lack of an express limit on federal power, and that it would be a danger to individual freedoms and to the powers of the states. In response to […]
Compact for America Solution to Article V Convention Issues According to the Founders, Part III
The preceding Part I and Part II, containing Exhibits A through G overwhelmingly establish the laser-focus of the Compact for America approach on advancing and ratifying a specific amendment is four-square what the Founders expected from Article V. Simply put, the Founders clearly meant for the Article V convention’s agenda to be set in fine detail […]