Free Republic

Nearly two years ago, I wrote about an intriguing Commerce Clause case involving the Montana Firearms Freedom Act. To wit, Montana enacted a regulatory regime to cover guns manufactured and kept wholly within state lines that was less restrictive than federal law. The Montana Shooting Sports Association filed a claim for declaratory judgment to ensure that Montanans could enjoy the benefits of this state legislation without threat of federal prosecution. The federal district court ruled against the MSSA. On appeal to the Ninth Circuit, Cato joined the Goldwater Institute on an amicus brief, arguing that federal law doesn’t preempt Montana’s...

How's this for a doctrine of applying the General Welfare clause in justifying any control or money being spent by the Federal government ? If the effort in question can be done at the local or State level, then it must be done at the local or State level - and must NOT be done at all by the Federal government. Basically, if localities or States are doing it then the Federal government need not - and must not - do it. Quite simply because the fact that localities or States are doing something proves that they can. For roads,...

"....but you do burn the Bible, because..."

In 2005 the Supreme Court said the federal government's power to "regulate commerce…among the several states" extends to the tiniest speck of marijuana wherever it may be found, even in the home of a patient who grows it for her own medical use in compliance with state law. "If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause," Justice Clarence Thomas warned in his dissent, "then it can regulate virtually anything—and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers." The Obama administration, which was in court this week defending the new federal requirement that every American obtain...

Sophistry from the Superior Court : Ruling on CityNorth amends the state Constitution Without A Vote by the People Robert Robb, Goldwater Institute Daily Email, April 08, 2008 The Superior Court decision upholding the massive subsidy Phoenix gave CityNorth is an exercise in legal sophistry. Judge Robert Miles held that there were considerable public benefits from the building of the shopping center, and so there wasn't a violation of the state Constitution's gift clause. There is not, however, a public purpose or benefits exception to the gift clause ban. It states that no Arizona government "shall ever give or loan...

"3. Resolved that it is true as a general principle and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the constitution that ‘the powers not delegated to the US. by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people’: and that no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the US. by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, all lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain, & were reserved, to the states or...

Early reports show the AFL-CIO spent $49 million (27 percent of its total annual budget) on political and lobbying activities but only $30 million (or 16.5 percent) to represent its members. That gap contributed to the breakaway from the AFL-CIO of the Teamsters, the Service Employees and other unions.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin's governor vetoed a bill Friday that would have allowed health care workers to opt out of a half-dozen procedures, including withdrawing a person's feeding tube and using embryonic stem cells, on religious or moral grounds. The "conscience clause" also would have protected medical workers against punishment from their bosses or state regulators if they refused to refer people elsewhere to get the procedures. "Because it puts a doctor's political views ahead of the best interests of patients, this legislation ought to be called the 'unconscionable clause,'" Gov. Jim Doyle said in a statement. "It is...

A few days ago, the majority of the Supreme Court ruled as if it were using the Constitution of France instead of the Constitution of the USA. The French Constitution states that its nation is a secular one, while our Constitution states that we are a nation under God. One would not know this if the majority of the Supreme Court today is to be believed Mark Levin states in his book, Men in Black, “Chief Justice William Rehnquist has written that the Court ‘bristles with hostility to all things religious in public life.’” Based on a misreading of Thomas...

<p>WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday rendered two more hairsplitting, migraine-inducing decisions about when religious displays on public property do and do not violate the First Amendment protection against ``establishment'' of religion. In a case from Texas, where a Ten Commandments monument stands outside the state Capitol, the court, splintered six ways from Sunday, said: We find no constitutional violation. The second case came from Kentucky, where the Commandments displayed in several courthouses are surrounded by historical symbols and documents -- e.g., copies of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Star Spangled Banner -- to comply with the ``reindeer rule,'' more about which anon. On Monday the court recoiled from Kentucky's displays, saying, they are unconstitutionally motivated by a ``predominately religious purpose.'' Not enough reindeer?</p>

The days of the judicial-filibuster compromise are numbered. The scuttlebutt on Capitol Hill these days is that the McCain compromise will vanish as soon as a Supreme Court nomination appears. That's because the so-called compromise has that one huge loophole: It allows Democrats to filibuster (and thereby block an up-or-down vote on) any nominee they define as an "extraordinary" circumstance. And if Democrats' recent behavior is any indication, "extraordinary" will be used as a ruse for discriminating against judges who give even the slightest hint of holding pro-life views or having faith in God. "Any agreement that opens filibusters to...

Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution relates that "He [The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law..." So what does all that mean exactly? Well, the first part means...

Americans who hold to traditional values are expressing outrage this Christmas over the blatant double standards with which the enemies of this country’s Judeo-Christian heritage seek to completely expunge any vestige of it from their midst. Almost everywhere they look, Believers are confronted with legal actions of zealous individuals in authority positions, displaying outright hostility towards Biblical symbols of the Christmas season, while simultaneously encouraging every possible alternative, whether secular or otherwise. The very manner in which traditional America now seeks to defend itself, not on the basis that these actions result from a grotesque distortion of the First Amendment,...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

OK, this is big—at least in California…. The California Supreme Court yesterday denied the CNUMC (California/Nevada United Methodist Church) appeal of the appellate ruling in favor of St. Luke’s Community Church. That means that its over and St. Luke’s won. As I understand it, since the Supremes will not hear the appeal, the appellate ruling should be precedent setting for future cases. So right now, the deal is that in California, there is no such thing as an irrevocable trust, so local churches who make the trust, can un-make them. Apparently, it will take a short time for the original...

Legal group awarded 1/2 million tax dollars for ridding courthouse of 10 Commandments A new online petition asks Congress to change a specific civil-rights statute in hopes of preventing the American Civil Liberties Union from collecting attorney fees from taxpayers of local governments the organization takes to court. The effort – spearheaded by Craig McCarthy of CourtZero.org, a site dedicated to stemming judicial activism – seeks to change 42 U.S.C., Section 1988, of the United States Code. The statute now allows judges to award attorney fees to plaintiffs in civil-rights cases brought against local governments, thereby putting the taxpayers on...

<p>Last Wednesday's hearing before the Senate's "Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights" was billed as the occasion for a serious discussion on the need for a constitutional amendment to limit the interstate effects of Goodridge, the Massachusetts court decision recognizing a state constitutional right to same-sex marriage.</p>

Tuesday, July 1, 2003Mojave Cross gains support of state American Legion   By KELLY DONOVAN/Staff WriterThe American Legion of California will seek support for the Mojave Cross from its counterparts across the country, Legion officials said Monday.Willy Wilkin, who represents California on the American Legion's executive committee, said he will urge his colleagues to pass a resolution in favor of U.S. Rep. Jerry Lewis' efforts to save the cross.The executive committee, which has one member from each state, will meet in August in St. Louis.Wilkin said the Mojave Cross, bolted on top of a rock outcropping in the Mojave...

<p>The recent Supreme Court decision declaring that school vouchers do not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause was an enormous victory for supporters of school choice. But they should not savor their victory too long. Already, implacable voucher opponents at teachers unions are shifting their constitutional line of attack to the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Fortunately, the foundation for such a claim -- that school vouchers would increase impermissible racial segregation -- is demonstrably false. Indeed, vouchers are more likely to produce integration than are today's public schools.</p>