Free Republic

The National Popular Vote (NPV) plan is the latest in a long line of schemes designed to replace the Electoral College. Imbued with the ideals of this nation’s Founders, the Electoral College has proved itself both effective in providing orderly elections for President and resilient in allowing a stable transfer of power of the leadership of the world’s greatest democracy. Therefore, while it would be a mistake to replace the Electoral College, replacing this system with the NPV would be a disaster. The NPV would devalue the minority interests that the Founders sought to protect, create electoral administrative problems, encourage...

During the oral argument over Trump v. Slaughter at the Supreme Court, Justice Elena Kagan got seriously exercised. “You’re asking us to destroy the structure of government!” Trump’s solicitor general, John Sauer, wisely declined to respond. She went on. “Where else have we so fundamentally altered the structure of government?” Indeed. The 1934 Humphrey’s Executor case did exactly that as the New Deal got into high gear during FDR’s reign. The Constitution defines three, not four, branches of government. Article I defines all the bits and pieces about the legislative branch. In particular, Section 8 lists the things that Congress...

Can Congress create federal agencies with power to enforce the laws and prosecute crimes, but which agencies are outside the control of the President? In a 1935 decision called Humphrey’s Executor, the Supreme Court held that it could. I first wrote about this subject in a post back in December 2016 titled “Can The Separation Of Powers Of The Federal Government Be Righted?” December 2016 was immediatey after Donald Trump had first been elected President, but before he had taken office. The backdrop of the post was the issue of the extent to which the newly-elected President Trump would be...

Why do we have a constitution? How and why did it come into existence? Just what, exactly, prompted the calling of the Constitutional Convention, which gave birth to it? Most Americans believe, logically enough, that after we sent His Britannic Majesty packing, it was time to create a new government. This is false, and it entirely overlooks the fact that we already had a functioning government at the time of the Convention. That government had been in effect for the entirety of the Revolution and for six years following the final British defeat at Yorktown. No, the Convention was prompted...

The only word that fits when describing the Framers’ attitude toward protecting your property is “obsession.” Therefore, the first thing we must do, right now, is define exactly what the Framers meant by the word “property.” It absolutely and positively does not merely mean land, as many believe. Let us check with James Madison in a vitally important quotation that we will examine in full a bit later. A man’s land, or merchandise, or money, is called his property. Money is property…If you want some modern confirmations of that formulation, a Google search will reveal the truth of this in...

CONSTITUTION OF UKRAINE .... Article 1 Ukraine is a sovereign and independent, democratic, social, law-based state. Article 2 The sovereignty of Ukraine extends throughout its entire territory. Ukraine is a unitary state. The territory of Ukraine within its present border is indivisible and inviolable. .... Article 9 International treaties that are in force, agreed to be binding by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, are part of the national legislation of Ukraine. The conclusion of international treaties that contravene the Constitution of Ukraine is possible only after introducing relevant amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine. Article 10 The state language of...

Legal conservatives find themselves in an unusual position: originalism has reached unprecedented acceptance within the judiciary and the bar. A majority of Supreme Court justices—including at least one appointed by a Democratic president—identify as originalists, or at least strive toward originalism. Guided by the original understanding of those who ratified the Constitution and the Reconstruction Amendments, the High Court has overruled Roe v. Wade, ended the use of race in higher education, and recognized the individual right to own firearms. But some find these successes disorienting. Originalism’s victories have triggered an important debate among conservatives. Some wonder if originalism is...

America’s leftists have gone from a reverence for Europe’s socialist institutions to a subtle but complete nullification of the United States Constitution and American law. Leftists always adored Europe’s soft socialism. They wanted socialized medicine, practically free pharmaceutical drugs, six weeks of paid vacation a year, one year of parental leave for both parents (not that leftists actually want people to have children), subsidized housing, etc. Pointing out that all of this came about because of American taxpayers who funded building Europe back up after WWII, who absorbed all of Europe’s defense costs, and who pay the costs of all...

Mr. President, a US Army surgeon and lieutenant colonel, Dr. Terrance Lee Lakin, once requested of his chain of command to authenticate his orders as legitimate and legal to redeploy to a combat theater of operations and was soon after court-martialed for failing to show up for his unit’s deployment after he received no confirmation. Dr. Lakin was sentenced to Ft. Leavenworth military prison. He was dishonorably discharged from service when he was very close to a lifetime of benefits. He was stripped of his rank. His good name has been sullied because he inquired of his chain of command...

Two momentous things come together as the New Year approaches. The first is the 250th anniversary of the greatest document in political history, the Declaration of Independence. The second is the national firestorm that rages over its meaning. Trump The first of the contrary winds fueling our national firestorm is Donald Trump, who has closed out his first whirlwind year. Crime is down in several cities where he sent the National Guard. The economy is doing pretty well, and predictions are that it will continue, decline, or quicken (I think it will fluctuate). The stock market is high, and the...

The Trump administration’s tariff regime is under consideration at the Supreme Court. President Trump’s approach — largely focused on the careful and potent use of tariffs as a negotiating tool for so much more than simple trade — is unique and unprecedented, so it’s not surprising that it would be challenged, and that it would reach the High Court. These cases are not the simple “slam dunk” that many of the president’s opponents think they are. ... So even though the press and punditry may present the issue as if the Trump administration is the first ever to step on...

ailhouse records describing the incarceration of dozens of participants of Shays’ Rebellion sat for decades in a cardboard box at the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office before state archivists discovered them. The leatherbound register of prisoners, written on yellowed pages in looping cursive, described the charges of treason, sedition and taking up arms against the state leveled against 35 participants of the rebellion that ran from the summer of 1786 to early 1787. The sheriff’s office announced the discovery this week. Shays’ Rebellion was one of the inciting incidents that led to the drafting of the U.S. Constitution that created a...

The most important thing to know about the Trump administration’s defense of its hotly contested use of tariffs to bring allies and opponents to heel is not that it is a novel and unprecedented legal argument but rather a full-throated articulation of the campaign themes that got the president elected – in both 2016 and 2000. In its legal documents, and in the oral arguments that took place before the Supreme Court Wednesday, the Trump administration paints a picture of America under siege. Once thriving industrial towns in the Midwest hollowed out. Factories dismantled as supply chains have been moved...

<p>Two Republican Kentucky congressmen will play a part in deciding the future of President Donald Trump's White House ballroom.</p><p>The lavish gold-accented ballroom, announced by Trump in July, is expected to cost around $300 million to create and sparked controversy in late October after bulldozers removed the entire East Wing of the White House, raising questions around transparency and legal authority.</p>

President Donald Trump's use of sweeping tariffs faced sharp questioning at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, in a case with major implications for the president's agenda and the global economy. A majority of justices, including several conservatives, expressed doubts about the White House's justification of the import duties, which the president has said are necessary to restore America's manufacturing base and fix its trade imbalance. The measures are being challenged by a number of small businesses and a group of states, which contend that the president has overstepped his authority in imposing the levies, which are in effect a tax....

Chimpanzees are not “persons” capable of being “imprisoned” for purposes of habeas corpus. It’s not every day a court is asked whether chimpanzees have constitutional rights just like people do, but that was the novel question before a three-judge panel of the Michigan state court of appeals earlier this month. The answer, of course, was no. Chimpanzees are not “persons” in the eyes of the law, the appellate court held, denying the petition for habeas corpus filed on behalf of seven chimps by the Nonhuman Rights Project, an advocacy group dedicated to securing legal rights for “nonhuman animals.” In fact,...

(Oct. 26, 2025) — INTRODUCTION Well, well, well… some sanity and rational thought may at last be seeping into the question and analysis of the so-called “birthright citizenship” issue under the 14th Amendment. As discussed by your humble servant earlier this year here, the 14th Amendment birthright citizenship issue is different, but closely related, to the “natural born Citizen” (“nbC”) issue under Art. 2, § 1, Cl. 5, the Constitution’s “Eligibility Clause.” Because that which follows may become convoluted, readers may wish to keep a supply of their favorite caffeinated beverage nearby. As a preliminary matter, that clause, of course,...

A New York federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to send $34 million in anti-terrorism grants to the MTA — calling its abrupt bid to yank the cash a “blatant violation of the law.”Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to disperse the funds to the Big Apple to be used to “help protect the people who every day ride the MTA’s subways, commuter trains and buses and who use its bridges and tunnels against terrorist attacks.” FEMA had sent a presentation to congressional staffers in September revealing that it would be withholding...

History is not indoctrination — or is it? How many people know that the scriptures were cited by our founders more than Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone combined? Students learn that James Madison is the father of the Constitution, but do they know that he would likely have failed unless he had promised a bill of rights to Pastor John Leland? Does today’s generation realized that the pilgrims were literally a church plant and that the Mayflower Compact was modeled after a church covenant? It's more likely they believe that America was formed under secular influences with just a tiny tip...

“Religious freedom” was not part of the Old Testament system, because God ruled over Israel directly. Of course, Israel’s theocracy was not intended to be a government model for the rest of the world. Nations which have imposed a self-styled theocracy, such as medieval Spain, have produced totalitarian nightmares. The religious intolerance of the Inquisition was not a product of true theocracy; it was the result of power-hungry, sinful men. In the New Testament, we have a clearer picture of the God-ordained role of government. Romans 13:3-4 delineates the government’s responsibilities, which are, quite simply, to punish evil deeds, reward...