“[W]e must never forget that it is a constitution we are expounding.” Chief Justice John Marshall, McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) Reviewing the 200 years of “expounding” the Constitution has undergone can be quite confounding. There have been hundreds of Supreme Court opinions. Legal scholars, lawyers, and judges engage in continuing debate over the proper method […]
Fourth Amendment Origins: Court Battles Lead to Revolution
November 3, 2013 by
“The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence as for his repose.” Sir Edward Coke,[1] 1604 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin,[2] 1755 “… one of the most essential branches […]
The Third Amendment to the US Constitution
October 7, 2013 by
“Every word of the Constitution decides a question between power and liberty,” James Madison The Constitution’s Third Amendment has never been the controlling law in any case decided by the US Supreme Court, and has been of critical importance in only one appellate case[1] in the nation’s history. It is often ignored and in some […]
The Government May Be “Shut Down” But The Constitution Is Hard At Work
October 1, 2013 by
Despite a century long[1] effort to eviscerate and ignore the Constitution, the government “shut down” demonstrates the document’s stubborn staying power. As the news media works to “analyze” who will get the blame, no one mentions that the goal of the Constitution was to limit government by dividing power. Though those in office will not […]
The Second Amendment: A Personal Natural Right to Keep and Bear Arms
August 31, 2013 by
“There seems to us no doubt, on the basis of both text and history, that the Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear arms.” District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) With those words, Justice Scalia put to rest a debate as to the meaning of the Second Amendment that had persisted for […]
Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman and the Founders’ Faith in Grand Juries
July 18, 2013 by
“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution…” Thomas Jefferson The death of Trayvon Martin during an altercation with George Zimmerman prompted calls for a national discussion about race relations that went all the way to […]
US Constitution’s First Amendment: Right to Petition for Redress of Grievances
July 1, 2013 by
The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights addresses five rights. The limits on government interference with religion, speech and the press were the result of the uniquely American experience. The right to peaceable assembly was a needed protection to exercise the first three. The First Amendment’s fifth right will come as a surprise to […]
American Federalism: Source, Purpose and Establishment Part II
April 20, 2013 by
Beginning with The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut in 1639,[1] Americans grew increasingly accustomed to local self-government. They also learned the freedom and liberty that came along with a benign distant central government accepting local citizens’ control of local law. Over time, Americans came to live in a world perhaps described as “quasi-federalism”.[2] Among the men who […]
American Federalism: Source, Purpose and Establishment Part I
April 16, 2013 by
“The federal and State governments are in fact but different agents and trustees of the people, constituted with different powers, and designed for different purposes.” James Madison The Federalist, No.46 The American freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly as protected and practiced were new to the world. Those contributions to the world’s political thought were uniquely American. So it is with […]
The Sword of Liberty: Constitutional Education and Adventure
Book Review: The Sword of Liberty by Loren J. Enns1 Thomas Jefferson expressed the sense of the Founders of the American Republic: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…” 2 The Constitution’s Article V reflects this principle, providing […]