NDAA Sections 1021 and 1022: Scary Potential
in America, we traditionally don’t lock up citizens on mere suspicion…Or is that is now changing?
The Founding Fathers’ Guide to the Constitution
The Constitution is there. It can still be known and understood by honest citizens.
The Little-Known – but Seminal – York Town Convention of 1777
by Rob Natelson The U.S. Constitution authorizes a “convention for proposing amendments” to offer amendments for ratification (or rejection) by the states. The mechanism has never been used (all amendments have come from Congress), and many people have been curious about how it is supposed to work. But that’s because they are unaware of the [...]
Another Treasure Hunt: Tracking Down Bits from the American Founding
Rob Natelson has a historical gem of a story from the Anti-Federalists
To “regulate” Commerce means more than to “make it regular”
It’s not just progressives who push myths about the Constitution…
The Dangerous Supreme Court
the division of powers in the American system disappeared long ago, and the checks and balances do not work.
Bill of Rights. FTW!
On December 15, 1791, the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution – known as the Bill of Rights – came into effect through the process of ratification by the States.
Original intent? Understanding? Meaning?
When interpreting phrases in the Constitution, you look to how the ratifiers understood them. Period.
More Constitutional Baby Babble. This time at Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair’s sophisticated approach to rescuing a drowning man is this: Lecture him about how we all need plenty of water.
What A Little-Known Colonial Pamphlet Tells Us About the Constitution
The Boston Pamphlet was the product of the Boston “committee of correspondence,” a group consisting of patriots such as James Otis and Sam Adams.
How Congress Took Control of Indians’ Lives
Congress micro-manages the lives of American Indians and of their tribes. It’s not supposed to be this way.
Yet another “progressive” argument for an unlimited Commerce Power doesn’t add up
the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act is simply irrelevant to the scope of the Commerce Power.
On General Welfare
by Steve Palmer, Pennsylvania Tenth Amendment Center In response to my recent essay, “The Tenth Amendment Prohibited the Living Constitution“, I received an e-mail which informed me that, †the Constitution … gives Congress the power to make all laws necessary to execute its powers, including the power to provide for the general welfare, which has [...]
Empire and Nation
John Dickinson and Richard Henry Lee on the distribution of power. Forrest McDonald sheds light…
The People vs the State
St George Tucker on the nature and structure of government – from the will of the people?
Obama Jobs Bill Defies Both the Constitution and the Supreme Court
11th Amendment. Obliterated. Rob Natelson explains
It’s Here!
This is the first book EVER to explain the legal force of the entire U.S. Constitution as it stood in December, 1791, right after adoption of the Bill of Rights.
Is it a “tax” or not a “tax”? The Original Understanding
To say that a levy is a “tax†under the Anti-Injunction Act is not to say that it is also a “tax†as the Constitution uses the word.
The Courts Should Strike Down Medicare Mandates
Even under the Supreme Court’s ultra-liberal “Spending Clause†rules, Congress went too far this time.
Judiciary Failure: Upholding Medicaid Expansion
Rob Natelson explains why the recent court ruling on Obamacare is yet another double-edged sword
Why Don’t We go Back to First Principles?
Against the affordable care act is the time-honored principle that “enough is enough.â€
Anti-Federalists, Federalists, and State Sovereignty
Regardless of their disagreements at the founding of our nation, even a perfunctory study of the participants in the historical events briefly outlined in this essay would unquestionably reveal that none of these men, from the fiercest federalist to the most ardent anti-federalist, could have anticipated the size and scope of the power wielded by the national government they once debated.
