Commentary Current & Constitutional | Timely Renewed

Professor Levinson and the “Imbecilic” Constitution: Speaking Liberty to Power

By admin, on June 11th, 2012%

Professor Sanford Levinson’s recent New York Times op-ed on our “imbecilic” Constitution gets only one thing right – the amendment process is moribund. Professor Richard Epstein’s brilliant response to Levinson gets only one thing wrong – limited government will not be restored voluntarily by regular politicians no matter well schooled they are by Professor Epstein. We need a tool to overcome 80 plus years of Supreme Court decisions underlying the federal leviathan. That tool is a reformed amendment process enabling constitutional amendments to be initiated and enacted at the state level without having to go through either Congress or the dangerous process of a second constitutional convention. . . . → Read More: Professor Levinson and the “Imbecilic” Constitution: Speaking Liberty to Power

Obamacare: Winning the Battle but Losing the War?

By admin, on April 2nd, 2012%

Even if the Supreme Court rules Obamacare unconstitutional, that will still leave in place all of the previous 75 years of Supreme Court decisions which have allowed the federal government to expand far beyond its original constitutional limits. In the 1930s, the Supreme Court overturned many New Deal expansions of federal power, only to have them all reversed as Roosevelt appointees eventually filled the Court. A Supreme Court decision against Obamacare must not be a cause for complacency in the war against the ever-expanidng power of the national government, including enacting amendments to restore the original constitutional limits on federal power. . . . → Read More: Obamacare: Winning the Battle but Losing the War?

Obamacare in the Supreme Court – II

By admin, on March 15th, 2012%

A constitutional amendment restoring the original meaning of the interstate commerce clause is the only sure way to reverse not only Obamacare but the rest of the federal regulatory leviathan. . . . → Read More: Obamacare in the Supreme Court – II

Newt, the Judges, and the Constitution

By admin, on December 26th, 2011%

Part of the attention Newt Gingrich has attracted recently, both good and bad, has focused on his proposals for reining in an activist federal judiciary. Some of the proposals include congressional legislation limiting the federal courts’ jurisdiction in certain areas, abolishing particularly out-of-control courts, presidential defiance of decisions he deems unconstitutional and calling judges before . . . → Read More: Newt, the Judges, and the Constitution

The Constitution and Real Federal Regulatory Reform

By admin, on August 31st, 2011%

The American Thinker has published as a blog item my review of President Obama’s so-called regulatory review (You call this regulatory reform?). Under the direction of Professor Cass Sunstein, President Obama’s former University of Chicago law school colleague, all federal regulatory bodies were to eliminate regulations which were unduly burdensome to small businesses. Private sector critics . . . → Read More: The Constitution and Real Federal Regulatory Reform

Beyond the Balanced Budget Amendment – Give Us Back Our Constitution

By admin, on June 2nd, 2011%

Many thanks to American Thinker for publishing my article, A Balanced Budget Amendment is not enough – Give Us Back Our Constitution. The comments to the article illustrate the frustration many Americans feel with our federal government. In the last hundred years the Framers’ fundamental constitutional structure has been betrayed by all three of the branches of the . . . → Read More: Beyond the Balanced Budget Amendment – Give Us Back Our Constitution

Of Libyas Past, Present and Future — the Constitution and Making War

By admin, on March 24th, 2011%

There is much being said and to be said about President Obama’s decision to send US military forces to do whatever it is they are doing in Libya. Some of this commentary is even noting that there is something in the Constitution about going to war, even citing Section 8 of Article 1 which vests in Congress the power . . . → Read More: Of Libyas Past, Present and Future — the Constitution and Making War

Bernie Sanders and the Progressive Case for a More Jeffersonian Government

By admin, on March 23rd, 2011%

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ nine-hour rant on the Senate floor against maintaining the current tax rates for upper income Americans attracted considerable notice. The essence of his argument was that more successful individuals and small businesses should be taxed more because of government favoritism toward major corporate interests in the Bush/Obama bailouts. Of course, under a true free market such . . . → Read More: Bernie Sanders and the Progressive Case for a More Jeffersonian Government

Obamacare in the Supreme Court

By admin, on February 8th, 2011%

Opponents of Obamacare have welcomed Judge Roger Vinson’s decision that not only is the individual mandate unconstitutional, but that that renders the entire 2,000 plus page scheme unconstitutional. (The previous ruling that the individual mandate is unconstitutional by Judge Henry Hudson did not overturn the entire statute. UPDATE – in mostly upholding Judge Vinson’s decision, the Eleventh . . . → Read More: Obamacare in the Supreme Court

The Problem of Pork and Precedent, or Why We Need Amendment as a Third Front to Restore Constitutional Government

By admin, on January 25th, 2011%

One of the distinctive features of the Tea Party is its focus on understanding the Constitution and pulling the federal leviathan back into its constitutional bounds. While conservatives certainly have always been cognizant of the Constitution, previous conservative resurgences were never as Constitution-conscious as the contemporary Tea Party. The question is, what do we do with . . . → Read More: The Problem of Pork and Precedent, or Why We Need Amendment as a Third Front to Restore Constitutional Government

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