Free Republic

The Anti-Federalists were those that opposed the ratification of the United States Constitution by their respective State Ratifying Conventions. "Federal Farmer," whose identity is unknown, though scholars have put forward Richard Henry Lee and Melancton Smith as possibilities, wrote essays that were among the more important documents of the constitutional ratification debate. He warned in 1788 in Federal Farmer No. 15 that because "particular circumstances exist at this time to increase our inattention to limiting properly the judicial powers, we may fairly conclude, we are more in danger of sowing the seeds of arbitrary government in this department [of the...

Ninth Amendment: "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." What was the original purpose of these two Amendments? The Tenth Amendment is pretty self explanatory, but the Ninth Amendment is often viewed as more nebulous and vague, having very little real or relevant meaning. The truth of the matter is that the two Amendments were intended...

Elbridge Gerry said to his colleagues in the First Congress in 1789, "The people of America can never be safe, if...[the federal government has] a right to exercise the power of giving constructions to the constitution different from the original instrument." Interpreting the Constitution according to the original meaning of the provisions therein is today labeled as the philosophy of originalism. It is the only logical and legitimate method of Constitutional interpretation. Early American Constitutional scholar St. George Tucker wrote in 1803, "The advantages of a written constitution, considered as the original contract of society must immediately strike every reflecting...

I was very surprised one year ago on April 20, 2010 with the Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Stevens and that the decision came down with such an overwhelming 8 to 1 majority. But the unpredictable Supreme Court left only Judge Samuel Alito arguing that Congress's ban on the distribution of animal cruelty videos should not be voided under the First Amendment's protection of the freedom of speech. Justice Alito wrote: "The Court’s approach, which has the practical effect of legalizing the sale of such [animal cruelty] videos and is thus likely to spur a resumption of their...

In his dissent in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the Supreme Court case that invalidated Texas’s sodomy law, Justice Antonin Scalia cites the 11th Circuit case of William v. Pryor (2001) which upheld Alabama’s prohibition on the sale of sex toys on the ground that “[t]he crafting and safeguarding of public morality…indisputably is a legitimate government interest under rational basis scrutiny.” Scalia lists this ruling as one of “[c]ountless judicial decisions and legislative enactments” that “have relied on the ancient proposition that a governing majority’s belief that certain sexual behavior is ‘immoral and unacceptable’ constitutes a rational basis for regulation.” He...

It is first worth pointing out that the three levels of "scrutiny" used to decide whether a law is Constitutional under the 14th Amendment are complete judicial inventions that have nothing to do with the Constitution's text and history. But even following the levels of scrutiny as the Supreme Court does, "rational basis" is the lowest (it is not "intermediate" or "strict" scrutiny) and as a rule results in laws being upheld. Not in the 2010 federal district court case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger of course where a judge finds the traditional definition of marriage must be thrown out in...

Reuters reports that "exuberant Republicans vowed on Wednesday to exercise their new power in Congress to roll back some of President Barack Obama's key accomplishments, but a somber Obama said voters wanted both parties to work harder to find common ground." "It's pretty clear the American people want a smaller, less costly and more accountable government," Republican John Boehner, in line to become the next House of Representatives speaker, told reporters. "Our pledge is to listen to the American people." It is an unfortunate truth that we all remember, however, that the Republican party had abandoned its own principles prior...

The AP reports that "federal drug agents won't pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration. Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law. The guidelines to be issued by the department do, however, make it clear that agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is...

The L.A. Times reports that "pharmacists are obliged to dispense the Plan B pill, even if they are personally opposed to the 'morning after' contraceptive on religious grounds, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. In a case that could affect policy across the western U.S., a supermarket pharmacy owner in Olympia, Wash., failed in a bid to block 2007 regulations that required all Washington pharmacies to stock and dispense the pills. Family-owned Ralph's Thriftway and two pharmacists employed elsewhere sued Washington state officials over the requirement. The plaintiffs asserted that their Christian beliefs prevented them from dispensing the pills, which...

The Los Angeles Times, in an editorial entitled "The ABC's of LGBT," has taken aim at the Alameda Unified School District for turning "what should be a basic Golden Rule lesson into a primer on sexual identity for kindergartners through fifth-graders." The Alameda Sun reports that "students from kindergarten through the fifth grade will learn about bullying that focuses on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in six 45-minute lessons over the course of their elementary school years." An opt-out provision is not even included. Such a provision would allow parents to pull their children out of classes they...

Attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies, who faced off in Bush V. Gore, have declared they are working together to do what they can to bring Prop 8 before a federal court claiming it violates the U.S. Constitution. Please watch the following interview with Chris Matthews to fully understand their contentions and my responses in this article: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUlDZLZ1Gls&feature=player_embedded These two lawyers are claiming that Prop 8 violates fundamental rights protected by the U.S. Constitution and amounts to discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The analogies made by these attorneys are perverse. They equate gay marriage with interracial marriage....

James Kirchick, Assistant Editor of the "New Republic," argues that "in the coming days, we will hear more about how mainstream conservative organizations and media personalities created an 'environment' in which the murder of an abortion doctor became an inevitability. Just as talk radio was blamed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, an attempt will be made to extend the guilt for this crime from the individual who pulled the trigger to the conservative movement writ large. But the Christian right's responsible reaction to the death of George Tiller should put to rest the lie that Judeo-Christian extremists are anywhere...

Fox News reports on the new 47-million year old primate fossil unveiled to the world Tuesday saying it "has made waves among scientists and non-scientists. Google responded by working an image of the fossil into the logo of its search page Wednesday. The discovery was presented with much fanfare at a press conference at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where researchers called the finding a 'missing link' and a publisher from Little, Brown (which put out a related book called 'The Link') called it 'a scientific discovery that will undoubtedly revolutionize how we understand our own...

The Washington Post reports that "a source familiar with White House views said Obama’s advisers are further convinced that letting the public know exactly what the past administration sanctioned will undermine what they see as former vice president Richard B. Cheney’s effort to 'box Obama in' by claiming that the executive order heightened the risk of a terrorist attack." In other words, pure politics took a higher place than national security. The New York Times explained the political motives behind releasing the memos and threatening to bring the lawyers who wrote them up on criminal charges when it wrote that...

President Obama has proposed decreasing the charitable tax deduction for wealthy taxpayers. The USA Today reports that "Obama's proposed 2010 federal budget contains a 7% cut in charitable tax deductions for the nation's wealthiest taxpayers... Americans whose household income exceeds $250,000 a year...can currently save $350 in taxes for every $1,000 donated to charity; under Obama's plan, that amount would drop to $280 per $1,000 donation." Speaking at a news conference Tuesday evening, Obama said "there's very little evidence that this has a significant impact on charitable giving." He went on to say that "if it's really a charitable contribution,...

The Associated Press reports: "The Democratic-controlled House approved $410 billion legislation Wednesday that boosted domestic programs, bristled with earmarks and chipped away at policies left behind by the Bush administration. The vote was 245-178, largely along party lines. Republicans assailed the measure as too costly — particularly on the heels of a $787 billion stimulus bill that President Barack Obama signed last week... From the GOP side, Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas said the legislation was 'going to grow the government 8.3 percent ... but the family budget which has to pay for the federal budget only grew at 1.3...

Last November it was reported that a resident of Minneapolis had returned to his native Somalia to conduct a suicide bombing attack. It is now known that he was not radicalized upon his return to Somalia, but that his indoctrination into jihadism happened right here in the United States. The New York Times now reports that "the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, said Monday that a Somali-American man who was one of several suicide bombers in a terrorist attack last October in Somalia had apparently been indoctrinated into his extremist beliefs while living in the United States. The man,...

Reuters reports that "the United States plans to offer more than $900 million to help rebuild Gaza after Israel's invasion and to strengthen the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, U.S. officials said on Monday. The money, which needs U.S. congressional approval, will be distributed through U.N. and other bodies and not via the militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, said one official." This is an insane amount of American taxpayer money to be going to "rebuild" Hamas-run Gaza, let alone through UN agencies that actually has a history of allowing Hamas members to work for them. Former U.N. Commissioner-General for Gaza and...

Fox News reportst that "U.S. officials are furious with the United Nations for its role in Hamas' attempt to enlist U.S. Sen John Kerry to transfer a letter from the Palestinian militant group to President Obama during Kerry's trip to the Middle East." Kerry did in fact turn over the Hamas letter to the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem on Friday, and later said he unaware that it was from Hamas until hearing about the letter in media reports. Fox News reports that "U.S. officials in Jerusalem are outraged at the United Nations Relief and Works agency for apparently handing the...

U.S. Army military judge Col. James L. Pohl refused the Obama administration's request to delay the arraignment of Abu al-Nashiri, the accused planner of the 2000 USS Cole attack in Yemen. The Saudi Arabian is accused of orchestrating the October 2000 Al Qaeda suicide bombing that killed 17 American sailors. The Pentagon war crimes prosecutor has been seeking military execution against Nashiri. Pohl's decision goes against Obama's recent executive order, which put a hold on all military tribunals for 120 days while the administration reviews how to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within the year. ''The Commission is bound...