Free Republic

One of the most controversial justices on the U.S. Supreme Court is sometimes at controversy with himself. Justice Antonin Scalia explained to a large crowd Friday at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center Exhibit Hall how his ardent belief in the quest to interpret the Constitution as its writers intended sometimes puts him at odds with his own personal beliefs. Scalia illustrated his conundrum by pointing to his vote upholding flag burning as a protected means of free speech. "You have a right to express contempt for the country, for the flag, for the government, for the president, for the Supreme...

"Imagine If..." The Reality of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Imagine an Air Force mom, serving her country on a month-long deployment, who learns that her daughter has been secretly removed by local authorities, claiming the child has been "abandoned." Children begin mandatory sex-education at the age of four, regardless of their family's opinions, beliefs, or convictions, and parents are imprisoned if their children fail to receive any of their mandatory vaccinations. Parents live in a state of constant supervision and suspicion. Imagine if your national government had the audacity to appoint a "guardian" to monitor...

The National Constitutional Center in Philadelphia is dedicated to "increasing public understanding of, and appreciation for, the Constitution, its history, and its contemporary relevance." So naturally, it has named Bill Clinton its next chairman. In "Dereliction of Duty: The Constitutional Record of President Clinton," the Cato Institute examined Mr. Clinton's record: Though he "has expressed support for an 'expansive' view of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, he has actually weakened a number of fundamental guarantees, including those of free speech and the right to trial by jury and that against double jeopardy. He has also supported retroactive taxes,...

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was served with papers yesterday connected with the lawsuit filed more than two weeks ago in federal court in Philadelphia questioning his constitutional eligibility for the American presidency. Service was made at his Washington, D.C. Senate office at approximately 1:00 p.m. From a press release provided by filing attorney Philip Berg and available on his Web site: Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s eligibility to serve as President of the United States, has received confirmation from his Process Service Company that the Democratic National Committee (DNC)...

The U.S. Postal Service is known for saying "neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night" will slow its service. But what about a federal investigation? Long before it ever reaches a mailbox, the information on packages and envelopes can be recorded. The service has approved 10,000 requests from law enforcement agencies to document information on the outside of letters and parcels as part of criminal investigations. Civil liberties activist Randall Kallinen says the information-gathering is being conducted without warrants. "What we're talking about here is wholesale envelopes, thousands and thousands of requests with no judicial review," Kallinen said. He...

214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002 20 March 2007 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable John Boehner Minority Leader U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Harry Reid Majority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Minority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 Re: Constitutional Problems with Congress's Attempted Micromanagement of the War Dear Congressional Leaders: As lawyers and law professors specializing in the Constitution and national security, we write to express our growing concern with the potential abuse of Congress's authority in attempting to unreasonably...

Former US president who entered the White House after the Watergate scandal without receiving a single electoral vote. Gerald Ford, who has died aged 93, will be remembered for exposing an extraordinary constitutional weakness unforeseen by the founding fathers of the United States. Having been a notoriously mediocre congressman, he went on to fill the country's two principal executive posts without the benefit of a single electoral vote. When voters were eventually given a chance to legitimise his presidency in 1976, he became the first White House incumbent in 44 years to be thrown out of office. Opinion polls showed...

An idea occurs to me. According to Article I, the whole House gets to choose the Speaker. Now, normally this occurs along straight party lines, but since the House is fairly closely divided, what if the Republicans in the House let it be known that they would support a moderate Dem over Pelosi, and vote as a block to do so? Is there any House rule that would prevent this? Many of the incoming Dem freshmen ran as "moderate" centrists. Perhaps some pressure or temptation could be brought to bear to eliminate the dinosaur commie Dems from House leadership positions...

Each state has its own constitution. State constitutions: a. are usually identical to the federal Constitution. b. must not contradict the federal Constitution, but may offer more protections and rights to their people than the U.S. Constitution provides. c. may differ from the federal Constitution, but must be approved by Congress first. Correct answer is (b). States are free to make their own constitutions. Many are modeled after the federal Constitution but vary widely in their length, language and provisions. Each state must comply with the federal Constitution when making its laws; if it does not, the federal Constitution will...

Roadside camping and parking bans are constitutional, a federal judge ruled, blocking protesters from pitching tents or placing portable toilets in ditches near President Bush's ranch. Protesters sought to make a smaller makeshift campsite than what Cindy Sheehan set up a year ago off the winding, two-lane road leading to Bush's ranch, said attorney David Broiles, who sued on behalf of Sheehan, of Berkeley, Calif., and four other anti-war demonstrators. But less than a week after asking the protesters and McLennan County officials to try to reach a compromise, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith ruled unexpectedly late Monday that...

Today, Representative John Culberson (R-TX) successfully added two amendments to the FY2007 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill. The first amendment prohibits federal funds in the bill from being used to provide in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants. "The Appropriations Committee approved my amendment today to enforce existing federal law which prohibits state universities from giving illegal aliens in state tuition rates or other education benefits unless the university also grants those same benefits and in-state tuition rates to students from all 50 states. Texas and nine other states have passed laws granting in-state tuition to illegal...

...But for me the root cause is structural, and the structural problem is the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment says that if something is not explicitly in the Constitution, or a Supreme Court decision hasn't set a precedent, the issue belongs to the states. The word "education" is not in the Constitution, thus education is a "state right" not an individual citizenship right like the First Amendment's freedom of speech, religion and assembly. In reality, we don't have an American educational system. We have fifty different state educational systems further divided into county, school districts and city...

City officials use fanciful arguments to explain why, say, a Costco is a public purpose because it brings in more tax revenue than the neighborhood that was there before it. With that simple twist of a phrase, essential constitutional property protections have been obliterated. You might own a small warehouse, but a developer wants to build a new high rise on the site. The government will come in and offer you the value of the warehouse (and will usually lowball the price and often force you to go to court to get a higher price, where you will pay your...

Family Fights To Take Toddler Home Chris Frank Life Or Death Battle Feb. 28-A life or death decision could be hanging in the balance for a child. Little Brett Shively Junior was rushed to the hospital after a terrible accident where he nearly drowned in a bathtub. Now his family is fighting to bring the little boy home. A hearing is scheduled Wednesday in District Court to decide whether or not a Wichita hospital can remove the ventilator keeping the two year old boy alive. Brett's family says, "We just believe that we're the best people to decide his care."...

Madison - The state Assembly on Tuesday put the final legislative stamp on a constitutional amendment that would bar same-sex marriages in Wisconsin, sending it to voters in a statewide referendum in November. The Assembly voted 62-31 to approve the Republican-sponsored amendment. Now, it goes on the ballot for the Nov. 7 election, in which Democratic incumbents Gov. Jim Doyle and Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager are up for re-election. With a wide margin of support expected, the final step for the amendment was all but a done deal by the time lawmakers took the floor late Tuesday afternoon. Groups that...

FOB WARRIOR, Iraq (Army News Service, Sept. 27, 2005) — Iraqi security and coalition force leaders met Sept. 21 at the Iraqi Army’s K1 training facility near Kirkuk to rehearse security plans for the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum election. Organizations represented at the security plan walk-through included the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police Services, Independent Election Commission—Iraq, Iraqi emergency services and coalition forces. The rehearsal included a military-style “rock drill” where each participant was allowed to rehearse the plan using a large graphical representation of the area laid out on an auditorium floor. “We are helping them set up their rock...

A good discussion of Doe v. Bolton is found at: DOE v. BOLTON, 410 U.S. 179 (1973) -- http://www.peopleforlife.org/bolton.html From this discussion and text, it is my opinion that Doe v. Bolton deals with the constitutionality of restrictions on abortion. I may be wrong. The important case that maybe Doe v. Bolton might be challenged on is: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/qp/04-01144qp.pdf -- AYOTTE, ATTORNEY. GEN. OF NH V. PLANNED PARENTHOOD That is why this is a question thread. It is my understanding that Doe v. Bolton addressed the question of placing restrictions on abortion. If that is true, then perhaps Doe v. Bolton...

The self-proclaimed High Priest of the Church of the Painful Truth is power-walking through Concourse B at an impressive pace for a man limping on a recuperating knee. He's on a scouting mission: Are shops at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport stocking his latest book? Is he curious? In need of an ego boost? "Revenge," he says in a voice Atlantans might recognize as either a jolting cold shower of meanness or an invigorating brew of straight talk on the radio. Neal Boortz is a New York Times best-selling author. So, as Boortz loves to say on air, "Bite me." His literary...

I've been dropping hints in previous columns about the FairTax proposal. Now the time is ripe to examine this idea. Why now? Because a definitive new book called "The FairTax Book" has hit the bookstores. Its authors are Neal Boortz, who may be the most articulate radio talk show host in America, and Rep. John Linder, a high-ranking Republican congressman from Georgia. Just as projected, the book already has soared to the top of Amazon.com's rankings. It's stirring up debate -- and support -- across the country. First, a look at the authors. Boortz isn't just another talking head who's...

Imagine a future in which terrorists seize an embassy and police can send in a remote-controlled insect outfitted with a microscopic video camera that reveals where the gunmen are hiding and what kind of weapons they hold. Or a time when adventure travelers fly to the moon to spend a week at a space colony under the glittering lunar skies--in the way they now visit Antarctica or the North Slope of Alaska. Or a U.S. constitutional convention where delegates draft a new governing document that allows the rest of the world a say in American decision-making. Sound far-fetched? Over 1,000...

U.S. Constitution, Article VThe Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be...

Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) is expected to introduce a constitutional amendment to protect religious expression in schools and on other public property soon after the Supreme Court decides two landmark cases about the displaying the Ten Commandments on public grounds. The court is expected to announce its decision by Monday. This is the first time the Supreme Court has ruled on a case regarding the Ten Commandments since 1980, when the court banned them from display in public-school buildings. Istook’s amendment, the “Pledge and Prayer Amendment,” could be the next chapter in an ongoing battle over the propriety of religious...

Chief Justice William Rehnquist may or may not retire in the next few weeks, but a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down Monday suggests that the curtain has already fallen on his jurisprudential legacy. Academics and commentators, like American Enterprise Institute Scholar Michael Greve, credit the Chief Justice with “resurrect[ing] federalism as a judicially enforceable constitutional principle.” But, during the past several terms, the Chief’s five-justice coalition — aptly referred to as the “federalist five,” comprising Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas — has been unable to complete the constitutional paradigm...

Iran's reigning mullahs and the reformists who would mend the regime's theocratic ways finally have something in common: Iranians don't like either of them. That will likely mean thick voter apathy when the country elects a new president on June 17. For most of the country, disillusionment with the government is escalating. Frustrated by repressive Islamic laws, Iranians elected current president Mohammed Khatami in 1997, hoping he and his reformers would create more democratic rule. But power still resides with unelected clerics. The reformists have accomplished little. The result might surprise many Americans. Seventy percent of today's Iranians are below...

After talking for months about the “constitutional/nuclear/whatever option,” Senate majority leader Bill Frist was finally set to bring the measure to the table. The move to restore the rights of the majority in consenting to judicial nominees by a majority vote was finally going to signal the end of the Republican weasel-ness that plagues the party every time it gains power. Then the weasels stepped in. The “great compromise” resulted in the Republicans giving up everything while the Democrats gave up nothing. The give-take deal worked as it always has. Republicans give, Democrats take. The parties shake hands and the...

Blaring from network and cable TV: “Democrats forced the Senate to put off a final vote this week on John R. Bolton’s nomination to be U.N. ambassador, the latest setback for the tough-talking nominee President Bush has called "strong medicine for corruption and inefficiency at the United Nations.” This was done by another filibuster that might delay the vote until June, thus shattering the myth that the two parties had joined together in a bond of trust that would end the obstruction that has kept Bush appointees from getting an up and down vote. When is Bill Frist, the Senate...

The deal to avert a change in Senate cloture rules is more than just a temporary outbreak of sanity in this highly charged partisan accelerator chamber. It amounts to a transfer of leadership from the polarized, party leaders to the narrow but critical center of the institution. Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) still has the corner office, and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) still has the key to the executive washroom, but it is the 14 senators who crafted this deal who now are the people to see in the Senate. Few realized that when the Republicans garnered 55 seats...

It will be some time before the full impact of this week’s sellout by seven so-called “moderate” Republicans in the U.S. Senate becomes completely apparent. The plan to break Democrat filibusters of judicial nominees was, in reality, no less than a Republican fight to restore the integrity of the Constitution. But in the face of the Republican defections, Democrats will now credibly claim to have protected it, and the nation as a whole, from the ravages of Republican “extremism.” Despite media spin, this arrangement was no agreement among “centrists” from both parties. The seven Democrats who participated in the deal...

Okay, Freepers, as much as we all wanted to see the trigger pulled on the Constitutional Option, now is not the time for divisiveness or bickering among our ranks. We've been told that if the Dems try to filibuster, the Constitutional Option is back on the table. Good....I smell an opportunity. Instead of sniping at each other, it's time to get into the Dems faces and say - "HAH, I Dare you filibuster us NOW!" So Freepers, this is a call to arms! It's psychological warfare, and the weapon is "I Dare You" 1) Call the liberal talk shows and...

According to senate minority leader Harry Reid and his friends, democrats must block the constitutional appointment process in order to protect you from right-wing radical judges. They say they use the filibuster only in the most extreme situations, to block confirmation of extremely dangerous radicals to the bench for sake of all mankind. Hero’s they are really, at least in their own minds… I can almost see their point too. Who would want some extreme right-wing wacko deciding justice in America? I mean, what if judges actually just stuck to the written law or constitution and applied them to cases...

Stripping Senate Democrats of their right to filibuster judicial nominees is a prelude to a broader assault on the judiciary known as “court stripping.” What Shelby and his backers are really after is gay marriage. If the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 were law, the Massachusetts Supreme Court could not have ruled that two people of the same sex can marry. “They’re doing in a sense what Iraq is trying to do,” says Lichtman, “make religious law supreme and not reviewable by any court, least of all the Supreme Court.” She adds that while Jews have to speak up, along...

Republicans filed a motion to implement the "Nuclear Option" today. This sets up a vote from next week. Are the Republicans going to have the votes to pass the "Nuclear Option"? The poll is on the right side of the page.

Apparently, a vote on the constitutional, or "nuclear," option could take place as early as this week. More simply put, a vote to end the filibuster could take place this week. As feministmajority.org explains the filibuster, "Right now, it takes only 41 votes to continue debate and block a vote on a judicial nominee. It takes 60 votes to end debate and force a full Senate vote." This use of the filibuster is obviously subversive. Those who use it, know it is subversive, and love it for that very fact. Those who oppose it, oppose it as a subversive tactic....

Last week, the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, made an offer to head off a nuclear exchange over judicial nominations. Reid offered to allow votes on a few of the judges stuck in limbo if the Republicans would withdraw a few of the others. But there was another part of the offer that hasn't been publicized. I've been reliably informed that Reid also vowed to prevent a filibuster on the next Supreme Court nominee. Reid said that if liberals tried to filibuster President Bush's pick, he'd come up with five or six Democratic votes to help Republicans close off debate....

Thomas Sowell, writing on the pending Senate showdown over judicial confirmations, notes that: "A disinformation campaign has already been launched to depict judges who believe in following the written law as being "activist" conservatives, just like liberal activists." "Those who play this game of verbal equivalence can seldom, if ever, come up with concrete examples where conservative judges made rulings that went directly counter to what the written law says or who made rulings for which there is no written law." It is indeed remarkable that the opponents of many of the current nominees can go so far in their...

URGENT: Majority Leader Bill Frist IS GOING TO PULL THE TRIGGER to end the blockade against President Bush’s judicial nominees, but the outcome is still in doubt. Dear Friend: In fact, high-level sources in the Senate are telling us that Majority Leader Frist will deploy the “Constituional Option” -- dubbed “nuclear” by the liberal media -- possibly within the NEXT FEW DAYS. We’re winning Senators one-by-one -- getting them to see the necessity of using the Constitutional Option. But there are still seven Republican fence-sitters! Your Blast Faxes are turning the tide, and that's why it is vitally important that...

MEMORANDUM: URGENT ACTION NEEDED TO: Judicial Confirmation Network Coalition Allies, State Leaders, Grassroots Leaders FROM: Gary Marx, Executive Director DATE: April 22, 2005 RE: Senate Floor Vote Needed on Outstanding Judges Brown and Owen The Senate Judiciary Committee voted yesterday to approve and send to the Senate floor two of President Bush's most important and qualified judicial nominees: The Honorable Priscilla R. Owen (United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit), and The Honorable Janice Rogers Brown (United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia). These nominees have now passed the first hurdle on the way to...

The best way to understand the brouhaha over the Republican plan to invoke the constitutional option to prohibit Senate filibusters to thwart judicial nominations is that Democrats are very poor losers, but Republicans are even poorer winners -- so far. The reason we're even talking about a so-called " nuclear option" is that Democrat leaders remain in denial about their consistent drubbing at the ballot box. They won't accept that the public has rejected their message. They are acting like the ornery little brother who hits his older brother, and when big brother merely threatens to hit back, he goes...

Now is the time to express to GOP senators your demand for a vote on the abuse of cloture. The Congressional switchboard is 202-225-3121... Among GOP senators said to be wavering are would-be presidential candidates Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and John McCain of Arizona. Both are intriguing and viable candidates, but not if they vote against breaking the filibuster. Similarly, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island is one of the few GOP "liberals" left and it is useful to the caucus to have such a diversity of views, but his re-election will be doomed if he votes against the ruling from...

In Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 5-4 yesterday that capital punishment is cruel and unusual punishment to those individuals who were under 18 when they committed the crime, and therefore, unconstitutional. Just 15 years ago the Supreme Court found that the statute in question was constitutional. However, they state that because 18 of the 38 states that have death penalty laws forbid executing minors (at the time of the crime), this represents an emerging national consensus. When will the courts begin interpreting the law rather than writing it? Additionally, they rattled off a list of foreign laws...

Exceprt from Sister Helen Prejean's 2003 speech, “The Abolition of the Death Penalty: A Target for the XXI Century” In my work I try to embody the healing work of Jesus by reaching out to death row inmates and to murder victims' families. It is not always easy reaching out to both sides, and sometimes victims' families shun me because they cannot bear the thought that I as spiritual advisor would show respect or compassion to those who have murdered their loved one. In their grief and confusion, some families buy into the retributive "eye for an eye" justice that...

Christine-The-Pretender was just sworn in as Governor of Washington State. You can go to dinorossi.com to check out the content of the lawsuit contesting her fictitious election. Democracy itself is on the line here, America. We have a election where there are THOUSANDS more votes than voters. There is proof that felons voted who are not eligible to vote, committed state mental hospital residents (also not eligible), prisoners, and dead people all cast ballots. Some folks voted twice! King County, land of liberals, played the chess game very well in the third recount that Gregoire won by 129 votes (Rossi...

The flat tax, long a dream of economic conservatives, is finally getting its day -- not in the United States, but in Iraq. It took L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Baghdad, no more than a stroke of the pen Sept. 15 to accomplish what eluded the likes of publisher Steve Forbes, Reps. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) and Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.), and Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) over the course of a decade and two presidential campaigns. "The highest individual and corporate income tax rates for 2004 and subsequent years shall not exceed 15 percent," Bremer wrote in Coalition Provisional...

TEST YOURSELF! CHECK YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL I.Q 1. The role of those elected to public office is: a. Public Administrator b. Public servant c. Public enemy d. Caesar 2. The U.S. Constitution was written to control: a. Government b. Citizens c. Criminals 3. To be concerned about your neighbor's welfare is: a. Humanism b. Patriotism c. Humanitarian 4. To be humanistic and humanitarian is the same: a. True b. False 5. According to U.S. Common Law in criminal trials by Jury, the facts and the Law are judged by: a. The Judge b. The Jury c. Facts by Jury, Law by...

Last Saturday night brought His Imperial Highness Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh of Vietnam, Regent of the Imperial Dynasty and President of the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League, to Cornell. The Prince, a member of the Vietnamese imperial family gave a lecture, entitled "Revival of Vietnamese Culture: The Nguyen Dynasty," before a crowd of about 50 people. Maria Nguyen '05, vice president of the Cornell Vietnamese Association sang the American national anthem and then played the national anthem of South Vietnam. Aided by PowerPoint slides, Prince Buu Chanh then began his lecture speaking from a podium draped with the American flag...

American Legion Commander Thomas P. Cadmus has excoriated U. S. Senate leaders for failure to schedule a vote on a constitutional amendment to protect the flag. “Your inaction sends a message,” he wrote in an open letter. “The flag you are willing to drape over the caskets of our heroes, military and civilian alike, isn’t important enough to protect on our own soil.” Action is considered unlikely during the lame-duck session, but the story could be different next year with a new party alignment. Partly because of his opposition to the amendment and charges of obstructing Senate votes, Sen. Thomas...

The Imperial Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam is politically pressuring the government of Vietnam to protect the liberty, religious rights of the Vietnamese people as well as the culture, traditions, languages of the Montagnards and Khmer Krom in Vietnam. (PRWEB) October 23, 2004 -- Today, Vietnam is experiencing a minor period of outward growth. Even the most dedicated Communists are abandoning old communist economic policies, which have proven to be ineffective and sometimes harmful. Capitalism is being introduced, with the Communist Party maintained only as a vehicle to exercise absolute control of the elite Party leaders over the common people. The...

It's that time again, folks. This is our time to send all the liberals searching for their Prozac. It's time we extract our pound of retribution from each of their socialist hides. And the best way to do that is to vote straight Republican. Unfortunately, we rejected some of the most Constitutionally oriented candidates in the primary process. No matter, though. We can still work with those we have running. The Republicans are, after all, an electable bunch. Sure, I can nit-pick and find problems with most of them. Nevertheless, collectively, the Republicans are fielding a pretty good group --...

"We will use 100% of your donations to run television and radio commercials (listed below) that specifically target conservative voters who might otherwise vote for Bush. We don't want Bush to win in Wisconsin anymore than you do," says website.

Did I hear Kerry mention Constitutional "rights we afford the people" in Wednesday's debate? Yeah, I did. How stupid! But, that's what happens when you let a lawyer talk. Our "rights" are said (by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington, and a couple dozen other Founding Fathers) to be "unalienable," natural rights, God given, and to be protected -- not violated -- by government. That's what separates us from other countries. Some people in our government still believe a little of that. Government was formed to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." It says...