Constitution’s “Origination Clause”: Why Revenue Bills Start in the House,...
This is Part 1 of a three part series discussing the Constitution’s Origination Clause. Part 2 explains the Senate procedure of ”gut and replace”. Part 3 explains why “gut and replace” violates the...
View ArticleConstitution’s “Origination Clause”: Why Revenue Bills Start in the House,...
For Drafters of the Constitution, a vexing problem was to establish a government that would give life to the philosophies of the Declaration of Independence and meet the practical political...
View ArticleConstitution’s Origination Clause: Why Revenue Bills Start in the House, Part 3
Part 1 examined the history and purpose of the US Constitution‘s Origination Clause. Part 2 introduced the Senate practice of “gut and replace” that pretends to comply with the Origination Clause....
View ArticleWhat a President Can Legally Do With a Pen and a Phone, Part I
President Obama brought national attention to the idea of running the country by “executive order” with his now famous: “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone”. He made that intent clear during the...
View ArticleBook Review: The Second Revolution and The 2nd Amendment
“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms … disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants;...
View Article11th Amendment Overrules the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court interprets the Constitution. If the Court makes an unpopular decision, the recourse is an amendment. This happened with the Eleventh Amendment. During the Revolutionary War a South...
View ArticleConstitution’s Ninth Amendment: Protecting Unenumerated Rights
On September 17, 1787 the drafting of the American Constitution was complete. The proposed document was not without its detractors and several delegates who participated refused to sign the...
View ArticlePennsylvania Mutiny Chases Congress to Princeton, NJ
The Constitution provided for the creation of a “federal enclave” for the United States capital with these words: “To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not...
View ArticleConstitution’s Origination Clause: Why Revenue Bills Start in the House, Part 3
Part 1 examined the history and purpose of the US Constitution‘s Origination Clause. Part 2 introduced the Senate practice of “gut and replace” that pretends to comply with the Origination Clause....
View ArticleWhat a President Can Legally Do With a Pen and a Phone, Part I
President Obama brought national attention to the idea of running the country by “executive order” with his now famous: “I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone”. He made that intent clear during the...
View ArticleBook Review: The Second Revolution and The 2nd Amendment
“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms … disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants;...
View Article11th Amendment Overrules the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court interprets the Constitution. If the Court makes an unpopular decision, the recourse is an amendment. This happened with the Eleventh Amendment. During the Revolutionary War a South...
View ArticleConstitutional Impeachment: An Alternative to Assassination
The Constitution‘s Impeachment Clause regarding the president and all civil officers of the United States is in Article II and reads: “The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the...
View ArticleUS Declaration of Independence: Unprecedented Change to the World
On June 7, 1776 Virginia’s Richard Henry Lee stood up in the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia and offered a resolution that would forever change the course of American and world history....
View ArticleThe Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution
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...
View ArticleSixth Amendment Right to Be Informed of Charges
It certainly seems obvious and fair that when the government charges someone with a crime that the person be told what law he has violated and what he did to violate that law. That a government does...
View ArticleCompact for America Solution to Article V Convention Issues According to the...
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...
View ArticleCompact for America Solution to Article V Convention Issues According to the...
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...
View ArticleThree Court Cases That Should Doom Obamacare
Over 100 cases are in federal court challenging constitutional aspects of the Affordable Care Act. Most cases address a specific portion of the act and may alter a portion, but not overturn the entire...
View ArticleBook Review: The Conscience of the Constitution
I recently was fortunate to observe Tim Sandefur argue the unconstitutionality of Obamacare in the District of Colombia Court of Appeals under the Origination Clause.1 Following the arguments a...
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