2024 is the 37th Anniversary of my admission to practice law. The final act of becoming a lawyer is to swear an oath to the US Constitution. As I took that oath in 1987, it crossed my mind that the meaning of this oath was never discussed during law school. I’ve thought a lot about that since. As […]
The Constitution, Art. I Section 1: All Legislative Power Granted to the Congress
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. This is the first sentence of the Constitution. It appears quite simple. The power to enact laws about the subjects listed in the Constitution is granted to the Congress, and the […]
The 225th Anniversary of the Bill of Rights, Part I
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 […]
Constitución de los EEUU Explicada en Español
David J. Shestokas, abogado especialista en derecho constitucional, y la Dra. Berta Isabel Arias, autora, han publicado Cápsulas Informativas Constitucionales. Esta publicación le ofrece a la población hispanohablante una oportunidad sin precedentes para mejor comprender sus libertades, combinando traducciones de los documentos fundadores americanos con un análisis estimulante del contexto histórico e implicaciones contemporáneas. Cápsulas Informativas […]
Cápsulas Informativas Constitucionales (Constitutional Sound Bites) Now In Spanish
Attorney David J. Shestokas and author Dr. Berta Isabel Arias have released Cápsulas Informativas Constitucionales, now available on Amazon. This publication affords America’s Spanish speaking population an unprecedented opportunity to understand their freedoms, combining translations of America’s founding documents with an engaging discussion of historical context and contemporary application. Honoring a proud tradition, Cápsulas Informativas Constitucionales promotes understanding […]
Checks and Balances, Protecting Liberty Beyond Separation of Powers
The Founding Fathers were extremely suspicious of the concentration of government power in a single person or small group of people. To protect against concentrated power they designed the Constitution to separate the powers of government into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial, and divided sovereignty between the federal government and the states. For the […]
The Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, Descendant of the Magna Carta
“No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.” Magna Carta, Chapter 39, June 15, 1215 June 15, 2015 marks the 800th Anniversary […]
The Sixth Amendment’s Right to Confront Witnesses
Sir Walter Raleigh of the late 1500’s is known for a number of things. He was a great explorer[1] of the New World, both North and South America. He is either credited or cursed for promoting tobacco in England. He is cited as an example of the consummate gentleman for putting his cloak on a […]
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 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 […]