The Obama Regime Gives Itself Permission To Wage Unlimited War
The Obama Administration looks to limits on its war powers with disdain, at best.
An Imperial Presidency In The Making?
The question is, Will my State raise the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag and sincerely defend my liberties? And the follow-up question is, If my State will not do it, which states will, and what will I do?
The Constitution is Clear on Presidential War Powers
We are long past the point at which constitutional arguments have much hope of restraining the American political class, either at home or abroad. They are still worth making, though, since they serve to show the two major parties’ contempt for American law and tradition.
The Presidency: Executive or Imperial Branch?
by Ivan Eland More memos recently have surfaced that were written early in the Bush administration by John C. Yoo from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel — the man who gave us the administration’s horrifyingly narrow definition of torture. As difficult as it is to believe, the recently released memos are even scarier [...]
NAFTA Expansion – It’s Still Unconstitutional
George Bush has formally presented an expansion of NAFTA to Peru. And, under FastTrack “rules,”Congress cannot amend the legislation. What does this mean? Well, it’s quite simple. Under Fast Track, the president has the authority to ignore the will of Congress in negotiating new trade agreements.
In Any Case
A recent OpEd by Mario Cuomo in the Los Angeles Times, What The Constitution Says About Iraq, gave some surprisingly good analysis of how the Iraq war is a direct violation of the constitution. Here’s a few tidbits:
The Root of the Problem
Reports from the UK are talking about a British General lambasting US policy failures in Iraq. From the Guardian: The bitter transatlantic row over Iraq intensified as another key British general lambasted the US for bungling the aftermath of the invasion. Major General Tim Cross, the most senior UK officer involved in the post-war planning, [...]
Understanding Limited Government
Kevin Gutzman’s new book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution, might be the best available overview of the principles of limited government as espoused by the Tenth Amendment. After reading this book, you’ll see quite clearly that the original constitution has very little in common with how this government is run today (if you [...]
Signing Statements Erode Constitutional Balance
by Rep. Ron Paul Recently, the General Accounting Office studied nineteen instances where the President issued so-called “signing statements.†In such statements, the President essentially begins the process of interpreting legislation – up to and including declaring provisions unconstitutional—hence often refusing to enforce them. The GAO study found that in nearly 1/3 of the cases [...]
The Constitution and the Powers of War
DIGG This The framers of the Constitution attempted to balance the power of the President as commander-in-chief with that of Congress, the representatives of the People. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives to the Executive Branch the command of the nation’s armed forces, while Article I, Section 8 gives to the Legislative Branch [...]
Understanding War Powers: Declare vs. Wage
By Michael Boldin “Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder.” — Thomas Paine One of the many consequences of our current political climate, in which war seems to be almost endless, is that people are often [...]
The Signing Statement Dictatorship
There’s been some attention of late on the aggressive use of “signing statements” by the executive branch. As the Boston Globe reported: Bush has claimed that his executive powers allow him to bypass more than 1,100 laws enacted since he took office. But administration officials insist that Bush’s signing statements merely question the laws’ constitutionality, [...]
Limiting Habeas Corpus : Limiting Government Power
DIGG THIS There’s been quite an uproar over recent comments on Habeas Corpus by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported: “The Constitution doesn’t say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas,” Gonzales told Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., during a Senate [...]
Line-Item Veto: An unconstitutional abrogation
The Associated Press Reports: The Senate is moving toward its first vote in more than a decade on the line-item veto, and it’s remarkable how much has changed – particularly the positions of many of the major players. At issue is a watered-down GOP measure that would allow a president to scrutinize spending bills he [...]
Executive Branch Shouldn’t Meddle with the Judiciary
The San Francisco Chronicle Reports: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday warned federal judges not to meddle in cases involving national security, following a string of judicial rebukes of the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism initiatives. In a speech to the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, Gonzales said federal judges are not “equipped to make decisions [...]
Not my Commander in Chief
Cross-Posted from DailyKos.com with permission of the author, Crashing Vor Watching Keith [Olbermann] just now, I heard him mention Antonin “Nino” Scalia’s dissenting opinion from today’s ruling in regards habeas corpus rights for detainees. The lowlight of Justice Scalia’s opinion was the paragraph: “The game of bait-and-switch that today’s opinion plays upon the Nation’s Commander [...]
Jun 13, 2008 | Categories:War | Tags: 10th Amendment, commander-in-chief, Executive Power, Guest Commentary, Habeas Corpus, justice-scalis, limited-powers, Louie Ludwig, militar, Positive Grant, president, supreme-court | 5 Comments »