State v. Barnes Update

In State v. Barnes, the Indiana Supreme Court overturned hundreds of years of precedent to allow the prosecution of a resident in his home who resisted an illegal entry by the police on which I reported here.

Here is a protest in Indiana against that decision:

Moron of the Day: Charles (Chuck) Shumer (D NY)

Gun banner Senator Charles (Chuck) Shumer has introduced the misnamed (as is typical) "The Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011" that would bar anyone arrested for a drug crime from possessing a firearm for 5 years. Reference the Daily Caller.

Yes, you read that right. Arrested. Not convicted.

We don't need no stinkin' trials to take away gun rights. Let the police be the judge and jury. Just make an arrest.

Someone hitting on your wife, just make an arrest for drugs, it doesn't have to stick, and no gun rights. Someone looks at you sideways, arrest on a false drug charge. someone smart-mouths the officer, arrest on a false drug charge. You want justice, I'll give you justice, man.

In what strange universe does Mr. Shumer think that would pass constitutional muster. Hey, it really doesn't have to as a teomprary measure. It would take years to get it to the supreme court. We don need no stinkin' rule of law in Mr. Shumer's America.

Congratulations to Charles (Chuck) Shumer, today's Moron of the Day.

Repeal Amendment

When the founding fathers formed our republic, it began as a compact among sovereign states, described in Articles of Confederation.  The original Articles did not work well, because any one state essentially veto any action.  The Constitution bound the states together more tightly, but it was still considered a compact among sovereign states that relinquished some, but only some, of their sovereignty.

The passage of the much hated Obamacare legislation vividly demonstrates how far state sovereignty has fallen from grace.  It has become the Federal Goverment uber alles.  It is time to restore some balance.

The so-called repeal amendment is a good start:

Any provision of law or regulation of the United States may be repealed by the several states, and such repeal shall be effective when the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states approve resolutions for this purpose that particularly describe the same provision or provisions of law or regulation to be repealed.

My only problem with it is that it does not go far enough. I see no reason why it should take 2/3 of the states voting to repeal legislation. I think 50% + 1 should be plenty. After all, if more than half of the states dislike some Congressional enactment enough to pass a resolution, why should it be imposed on us at all?

www.repealamendment.org is little more than a banner website with no real information as yet. I hope that changes soon.

We need to fundamentally transform America by restoring Constitutional principles and values.

The Principles of '98

Our government schools apparently no longer teach the Principles of '98, a landmark event in American Constitutional history. These principles were actually legislative actions of Kentucky and Virginia in 1798 asserting the states' right to ignore unconstitutional act by Congress, in this case the hated Alien and Sedition Acts that criminalized any criticism of Congress or the President. Here is an interesting video on the Principles of '98:



Many Blacks have been brainwashed into thinking that "states rights" and nullification were about slavery. Remember that before the Civil War, Massachusetts attempted nullification asserting its state's rights to oppose slavery, specifically the federal Fugitive Slave Act.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XXVII

Amendment XXVII. Congressional Pay Limitation

No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened

This prevents Representatives from from voting pay raises for themselves without an intervening election. Of the 435 seats, in a normal election, close to 400 seats are relative safe for incumbents. There are many fewer safe seats this year (maybe 336), but at least if the voters get outraged by a voted pay raise, it has the opportunity to vote the bums out. Senators, apparently because they have the longer six year terms, are no so handicapped.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XXVI

Amendment XXVI. Reduction of Voting Age Qualification

SEC. 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

SEC. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The older I get, the more foolish this amendment seems.

I remember in November 2004 standing in a long line waiting to vote. A young woman voting for the first time was there. She had no idea who to vote for in any race but president. A Democratic operative deliberately and in violation of the election law solicited her vote for Democratic candidates. It was disgusting. Not only was the Democratic operative disgusting, but it was disgusting that anyone would go in to the voting booth totally clueless on the candidates who were running and for what offices. (I understand that there are often many minor candidates, but each election is important. Too many people vote simply on the name. "Brown" is a big one in Ohio. No one should get elected merely because they were born with the right last name.)

Of course, this problems is not simply about recent high school graduates from union-dominated, government schools. I cringe every time I hear some vacuous television person urge everyone to get out and vote.

No. Get out and learn about the candidates and issues. After you have worked hard and gathered enough information to have an informed vote, then and only then go vote.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XXV

Amendment XXV. Presidential Vacancy, Disability, and Inability

SECTION. 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

SECTION. 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

SECTION. 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

SECTION. 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

After providing for appointment of a new vice president after the vice president assumed the office of president, this amendment provides the procedure, including a procedure for permanent removal of the president in the event of a disability preventing the president from performing the duties of the office. "disability" is undefined and its determination is left up to the vice president, a committee of executive officers, and then 2/3 of both houses of the Congress. Note, it does not say 2/3 of each house, so apparently the houses would combine and vote as one.

I see potential interpretation problems on the "majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide." Who are these "principal officers?" When may congress provide for "such other body?" After the problem has arisen?

Could this amendment be used as an excuse to get rid of a bad president?

US Constitution Series, Amendment XXIV

Amendment XXIV. Abolition of the Poll Tax Qualification in Federal Elections

SEC. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

SEC. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The poll tax was used to prevent poor blacks (and other poor people) from voting.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XXIII

Amendment XXIII. Presidential Electors for the District of Columbia

SEC. 1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:

A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

SEC. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This amendment gives the District of Columbia influence in the election for president and vice president out of proportion to its population. Why? It get three electors, as many as the smallest state. All states regardless of size get two electors plus electors equal to the number of representatitves (Article I, Section 1), a minimum of three. Thus mathematically, small states and the District of Columbia have electoral influence out of proportion to their size.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XXII

Amendment XXII. Presidential Tenure

SECTION. 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

SEC. 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.

This amendment was proposed and ratified after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected to four terms.

Under this amendment, neither Bill Clinton, nor Jimmy Carter nor George Bush may be elected president again. Reading the language, though, a question is raised. If Bill Clinton were elected vice president (which is not expressly prohibited), could Bill Clinton, having been elected president twice, become president again if the president dies in office? I think the answer is no based upon the Twelfth Amendment, but the answer is not entirely clear.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XXI

Amendment XXI. Repeal of Eighteenth Amendment

SEC. 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

SEC. 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

SEC. 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Section 1 is good, but section 2 has been the cause of a horrible patchwork quilt of state liquor laws, and has been thought to authorize discriminatory commerce practices otherwise invalid under the commerce clause.

In 2005, the Supreme court reigned in some of the patchwork craziness in Granholm v. Heald, 544 U.S. 460 (2005), holding,

States have broad power to regulate liquor under § 2 of the Twenty-first Amendment. This power, however, does not allow States to ban, or severely limit, the direct shipment of out-of-state wine while simultaneously authorizing direct shipment by in-state producers. If a State chooses to allow direct shipment of wine, it must do so on evenhanded terms. Without demonstrating the need for discrimination, New York and Michigan have enacted regulations that disadvantage out-of-state wine producers. Under our Commerce Clause jurisprudence, these regulations cannot stand.

Wine lovers rejoiced!

US Constitution Series, Amendment XX

Amendment XX. Terms of President, Vice President, Members of Congress: Presidential Vacancy

SECTION. 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

SEC. 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

SEC. 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

SEC. 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

SEC. 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.

SEC. 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XIX

Amendment XIX. Women's Suffrage Rights

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Women got the right to vote. Some women have been real assets in the political arena. Others voted for Nancy Pelosi and Mary Jo Kilroy.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XVIII

Amendment XVIII. Prohibition of Intoxicating Liquors

SECTION. 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

SEC. 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

SEC. 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress

This is merely of historical interest, because it was repealed within twelve years. It was a bad idea and fortunately did not last long. The Drug War prohibition remains in place. Lesson not learned, I guess.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XVII

Amendment XVII. Popular Election of Senators

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

Among libertarian circles, there is a move afoot to advocate for the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment. Why? Popular election of senators has upset the balance of power delicately created by the Constitution. When the Senators were appointed by the state legislatures, the Senators were careful to protect state interests. With the Seventeenth Amendment, that balance has been lost.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XVI

Amendment XVI. Income Tax

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Bad medicine. Needs to be repealed.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XV

Amendment XV. Rights of Citizens to Vote

SECTION. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

SECTION. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

There is nothing controversial about this amendment today, but it was necessary to protect the rights of former slaves and other Black citizens after the Civil War.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XIV

Amendment XIV. Rights Guaranteed: Privileges and Immunities of Citizenship, Due Process, and Equal Protection

SECTION. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

SECTION. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

SECTION. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

SECTION. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

SECTION. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 1 is the subject of frequent court cases and is at the center of a current illegal immigration controversy. Section 1 contains the "due process" language that has been interpreted to extend the people's fundamental rights recognized in the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments) to bind the states to recognize those rights. Before this amendment, it was thought that the Bill of Right bound only the national government.

In the recent Supreme Court case of McDonald v. City of Chicago, counsel for Mr. McDonald focused on the "privileges and immunities" language to extend Second Amendment rights to the states, but the decision used the standard "due process" clause reasoning to say that the states had to recognize the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Books could be and have been written on this amendment alone. Sections two, three and four are not often discussed and relate primarily to issues arising from the Civil War. Section 2 was intended to discourage Southern states from keeping Black citizens from voting.  Section 3 creates a disability from rebels holding office, but only if the person had taken an oath to support the Constitution before the rebellion. This was obviously aimed at members of Congress who supported the Confederacy during the Civil War to prevent them from returning to Congress.

Section 4 forbade the payment of debts of the Confederacy and forbade the questioning of public debt incurred by the Union to fight the war. Today, though, this section may be cited if the debt continues to spiral. It would prevent the government from repudiating debt and simply walking away.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XIII

Amendment XIII. Slavery and Involuntary Servitude

SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

SECTION 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

US Constitution Series, Amendment XII

Amendment XII. Election of President

The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President--The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

This amendment changed the system that allowed, even encouraged persons from different parties becoming President and Vice President.