Free Republic

For centuries there has been debate over the Second Amendment and the scope of the right that it secures. There was sparse definitive guidance on what exactly is safeguarded under the Second Amendment until 2008, when the U.S. Supreme Court defined the core meaning of the amendment in District of Columbia v. Heller. At the time, the District had some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. Nearly all District residents were barred from owning handguns, and they were also prohibited from keeping firearms of any sort within their homes unless they were disassembled or bound by a...

One of the most lame excuses for doing nothing is that we can't do everything. Such excuses have been repeated endlessly, even by some conservatives, when it comes to illegal immigration. We can't deport millions of illegal immigrants already living in the country, some say, so the wise thing is to just learn to live with them, according to the supposedly sophisticated crowd. This completely sidesteps the plain, obvious and galling fact that we are not deporting those illegal immigrants who are arrested by the police for violating other laws -- and are then turned loose back into American society....

It's time to go on the offensive about birthright citizenship. Congress has the broadest power under the Constitution to pass a statute and put an end to birthright citizenship. Today Mark had Professor Erler who is an expert on the 14th amendment and who has the right to decide who becomes citizen. He maintains Congress has that authority. There is no basis in the constitution for birthright citizenship. Hopefully people will listen to get an authoritative perspective. I'm not really interested in hearing opinions from people who won't take the time to listen. It is very clear who gets to...

Mark Levin has done a whole show today on birthright citizenship. This would be the 8/18/2015 show. He made it very clear that birthright citizenship is not in the constitution or protected under the constitution for foreigners. He went into the history of who has the right to citizenship as defined in the jurisdiction clause of the 14th amendment . He also goes into the fact that congress has the right to define who gets citizenship under article 1,section 8. This discussion is very very specific and shows that this mess is a failure of congress to act and nothing...

How do you know when a presidential candidate is being deceptive? No, silly, not when his or her lips are moving. Candidates often tell the truth -- like when they say they want your vote or your money. Moving lips are not a reliable clue. So what is? Any statement that envisions an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. _Politicians often act as though the Constitution is a sacred text handed down from heaven, like the Bible. Unlike the Bible, though, they have all sorts of recommendations for improving it. These proposals fall into two general categories: hopeless fantasies and pathetic...

MADISON, Wis. – A federal judge on Friday tossed out former Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson’s civil rights lawsuit and declared Wisconsin’s constitutional amendment that forced Abrahamson out of her long-standing seat of power does indeed pass “constitutional muster.” U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson said he wasn’t persuaded by Abrahamson’s case. His ruling puts to rest the liberal justice’s claims that the amendment approved by Wisconsin voters in April unfairly led to her ouster as chief justice. “This court has been asked whether the immediate implementation of an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution concerning the structure of its court system...

On Wednesday, abortion advocates introduced a bill to pay for elective abortions with federal taxpayer funds. The bill “targets the Hyde Amendment, a 1976 provision that blocks federal money from going to pay for abortions, with exceptions for cases of rape or incest or when a pregnant woman’s life is in danger. Hyde Amendment language is frequently included on spending legislation and is attached to the annual bill paying for Medicaid.” According to a 2010 statement from the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights, the Hyde Amendment has prevented over a million abortions. Five years have passed since that statement, making...

Is there any way to delouse America—to rid it of the parasitic infestation that is sucking America’s life blood away—killing the host while feeding on it? By “parasitic infestation” I mean the myriad parasites who feed off of America’s largesse and blessings without any thought of gratitude or recompense. Across the board I see arrogant entitlement attitudes exhibited among the very poor through the very rich—a supercilious self-centered gimme-gimme-gimme narcissistic moral squalor that affects all economic levels. “Is there anything that can be done to salvage the USA?” In addition I see much social injustice. It is socially unjust that...

Back in 2011, a dust-up between several Wisconsin Supreme Court justices led to a series of headlines revealing a long history of Wisconsin’s highest court not playing nice together. In response to this disclosure, the State Legislature offered a constitutional amendment changing the way the Supreme Court chooses its chief justice, by electing one instead of giving the title to the longest serving member. This spring voters approved this constitutional amendment by a 53-47 margin. This new constitutional provision allows the seven justices to vote for a chief justice they believe will be best to lead the court. Less than...

MADISON, Wis. – Shirley Abrahamson may be trying all she can to hold on to the reins of power, but the former state Supreme Court Justice doesn’t have the votes. On Wednesday, the four conservative members of the seven-person court took up a motion by Justice Michael Gableman to elect Justice Patience Roggensack as the court’s new chief justice. The legal reading is that Abrahamson’s nearly 20-year term as chief justice is over. “As of yesterday (there are) four votes in favor of the motion, all by email,” a source close to the court told Wisconsin Watchdog. The vote was...

"............“I am concerned because I think, you know, we should have been alerted,” Cummings said. “I’m telling you whenever anything happens around here, I get about 20 alerts, but I didn’t see anything on this, which is amazing.” Whether the Oversight committee will hold a hearing on the incident remains unclear. A spokeswoman for Chairman Jason Chaffetz told CQ Roll Call staff is in the process of putting together a letter to the Secret Service to try and understand the circumstances surrounding the incident. At least one public official was warning against overreaction. “The gyrocopter incident yesterday was not a...

MADISON, Wis. — The Washington, D.C., attorney representing Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson in her civil rights case against her peers serves on the board of directors of a George Soros-backed judicial group. Robert S. Peck is founder and president of the Center for Constitutional Litigation, which bills itself as “among the most sought-after appellate litigators within the plaintiffs’ bar.” Abrahamson tapped the constitutional law expert to represent her in a civil rights case that aims to save her powerful chief justice position from a voter-backed, state constitutional amendment approved at the polls last week. The amendment allows...

Madison— A federal judge declined Thursday to put an immediate halt on an amendment to the state constitution adopted by voters this week that would allow the members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to choose the chief justice. The job of chief justice has automatically gone to the most senior member of the Supreme Court for the last 126 years. Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and her supporters sued to keep her position as the court's leader on Wednesday, a day after voters approved changing how the chief justice is selected. She argues the provision can't go into effect until her...

Madison— Voters on Tuesday approved letting state Supreme Court justices choose who will lead them — a change to a 126-year-old system that is likely to result in the demotion of Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson. With 97% of precincts reporting, the proposed amendment to the state constitution had 53% "yes" votes and 47% "no" votes. The proposal often overshadowed a race for a seat on the high court, with outside money flowing mostly to the referendum rather than the court election. In that race, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley — an ally of Abrahamson's — won a third 10-year term on...

Someone recently asked, “Why is it that the John Birch Society is so opposed to an Article V amendment convention today despite the fact that they have been supporters of amending the Constitution since back in the 70s?” That’s a darned good question. It a matter of history that Robert Welch, the first president of the John Birch Society, welcomed those who would repeal the 16th Amendment (the progressive income tax) into the society and made their cause a part of JBS lore. In 1975, Larry McDonald, then a Democrat U.S. Representative from Georgia, who went on to become the...

Madison -- Groups called on voters Monday to reject a proposed amendment to the Wisconsin constitution that would allow state Supreme Court justices to select their chief justice, rather than have the position go to the most senior member of the court. If approved April 7, the change is expected to dislodge Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson from the court's top job. Abrahamson would remain on the high court but no longer have administrative control of it. Mike Wilder of Wisconsin Voices said at a Capitol news conference that the current system -- where voters elected Abrahamson to a 10-year term...

Of the many people I've met over the last two years who are opponents of an Article V Convention of States to Propose Amendments to the Constitution, one of my greatest regrets is that there are many with whom I would most likely agree on virtually every other issue in modern-day political discourse. Many of them, however, almost proudly admit that their positions on a COS are rooted in a decades-old fear of the unknown and an inability to trust their fellow citizens, while most COS proponents put their faith in stringent, new safeguards and an optimistic view of the...

My thanks to Edward Snowden an American Hero Glenn Greenwald, for his excellent expose And Laura Poitras for a terrifc film documenting the U.S. Governments crimes.

Dealing with the problem of tyrannical, out of control judges who refuse to abide by either the letter or the spirit of the Constitution It is a widely agreed upon proposition that the federal judiciary in our country is out of control; literally out of control. Federal judges increasingly act as if there are no limits to their authority to not only interpret, but to make and impose law. As a result, the situation has developed whereby there are essentially no meaningful checks on federal judges at all, and the system of checks and balances has broken down which was...

After two years of watching how‭ ‬one man‭ ‬presides over the‭ ‬Arizona State Senate,‭ ‬I can no longer withhold my opinion:‭ ‬Andy Biggs lacks the courage of his convictions.‭ ‬I refer specifically to his obstruction of Article V legislation that would add Arizona to the growing list of states applying to Congress for a‭ ‬convention to propose amendments to the Constitution.‭ ‬He‭ ‬claims to‭ ‬fear that state legislators‭ ‬– such as himself and‭ ‬89‭ ‬of his closest colleagues‭ ‬-‭ ‬would lose control of the agenda,‭ ‬risking a re-write of‭ ‬the‭ ‬entire Constitution,‭ ‬despite copious‭ ‬and credible‭ ‬evidence‭ ‬dispelling‭ ‬such concerns...