Threats to the Constitution

Threats to the Constitution

This section is about general concerns about the violation of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution seems to be routinely ignored now, even by those at the uppermost levels of our government who have sworn to uphold it.

Recently, extremists on the political left have begun to engage in mocking derision * of the people who point out that most of the 21st Century activities of the federal government are unconstitutional, i.e., they are illegal. The Constitution will become irrelevant if its violations are consistently ignored. It may already be too late.

It is probably impossible to expect the return to strictly Constitutional government in our lifetimes, because Americans by and large are comfortable with the status quo. But strictly speaking, there is nothing in the Constitution that authorizes direct payments to individuals, or the exploration of other planets, or the prosecution of any crime other than counterfeiting, piracy or treason. Anything outside of the "enumerated powers" of the federal government is supposed to be left up to the states, or to the people. In other words, if General Electric wants to waste money on a trip to Mars, that's okay, because G.E. isn't taking money out of our paychecks.

Read the Constitution for yourself. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Many people who have not read it for themselves would be surprised to learn that "separation of church and state" is nowhere to be found in the Constitution. Nor is there anything about the federal funding for education. Nor is there any provision for emergency management, for example, cleaning up after a hurricane. Nor is there anything that would authorize our government to fix other countries' problems, for example, AIDS in Africa.* All those activities, according to the Constitution, are to be left to the states, private companies, churches, charities, and individual citizens.

Most recently, there is a massive push toward socialized medicine in the United States. There is nothing at all in the Constitution that would authorize the federal government to take over the medical industry, or to require us to buy health insurance. People might tend to think that such a move is legal, since the government has just recently taken over General Motors and Chrysler, but those takeovers were illegal, too.

Related topics on nearby pages

The Nationalization of GM and Chrysler

Obama's so-called czars

The So-Called Stimulus Bill

The Wall Street Bailout of 2008

So-called Campaign Finance Reform is unconstitutional.

So-called Affirmative Action is unconstitutional.

Socialized medicine is unconstitutional.

Gun control is unconstitutional.

Social Security is unconstitutional.

I have my doubts about the USA Patriot Act.

It's Time to Scrap NASA

Poverty and Dependency in America

Medicare, Medicaid, and Prescription Drug Benefits

A Minority View: Constitutional Contempt. At Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Oct. 29th press conference, a CNS News reporter asked, "Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?" Speaker Pelosi responded, "Are you serious? Are you serious?" The reporter said, "Yes, yes, I am." Not responding further, Pelosi shook her head and took a question from another reporter.

[Dispensing] with the Constitution? Much has been made recently of the unconstitutionality of federal health care reform, especially a government-run system (the "public option") that could devolve into a "single-payer" system. The main objection is that the federal government has no authority to operate a health care system. Indeed, the 9th and 10th Amendments forbid it, according to Larrey Anderson of American Thinker.

What our founders couldn't foresee. This once-great nation is coming apart at the seams. ... This wonderful system has survived the rough and tough tumble of political discourse for more than two hundred years. It survived because, despite their differences, the vast majority of Americans were in absolute agreement about the purpose and goals of the government created by the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. ... [But now,] Only a handful of Americans are aware of these enumerated powers, or where to find them. Today, the federal government is as dictatorial as King George ever was...

Can the 10th Amendment save us? Does the U.S. Constitution stand for anything in an era of government excess? Can that founding document, which is supposed to restrain the power and reach of a centralized federal government, slow down the juggernaut of czars, health insurance overhaul and anything else this administration and Congress wish to do that is not in the Constitution?

Sen. Hatch Questions Constitutionality of Obamacare. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who has served in the Senate for 33 years and is a longtime member of the Judiciary Committee, told CNSNews.com that he does not believe the Democrats' health-care reform plan is constitutionally justifiable, noting that if the federal government can force Americans to buy health insurance "then there is literally nothing the federal government can't force us to do."

You Might Be a Constitutionalist if... [#1] You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe that every congressman, senator, President, and Supreme Court justice is required to obey the U.S. Constitution. [#2] You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe that before the United States invades and occupies another country, Congress must first declare war. [#3] You might be a Constitutionalist if you believe the federal government should live within its means, like everyone else is forced to do.

Pelosi Rebuffs Constitutional Question. [Judge Andrew] Napolitano says Congress has conveniently forgotten that the federal government was granted specific enumerated powers, limited by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. The power to regulate interstate commerce was intended to keep regular the trade between states and eliminate unfair in-state advantages. Stretching the interpretation of interstate commerce regulation that Pelosi and others are attempting to do, and applying it to a very intimate matter like health care is far beyond the scope of the Commerce Clause.

No Health Care in the Constitution. Notice that the Constitution doesn't say the "general welfare of the citizens of the United States." It says "general Welfare of the United States." This clause only gives the Congress the power to raise money to defend the country and pay for the day-to-day operations of the government. It says nothing at all about building bridges to nowhere, or paving bike paths, or spending money on any other kind of pork barrel project — including health care.

Nor does the Constitution authorize the exploration of other planets.

Silencing Voices for School Choice. President Obama isn't taking kindly to a television ad that criticizes his opposition to a popular scholarship program for poor children, and his administration wants the ad pulled. Former D.C. Councilmember Kevin Chavous of D.C. Children First said October 16 that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder had recently approached him and told him to kill the ad.

Where does the Constitution Authorize Congress to Order Americans to Buy Health Insurance? [Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick] Leahy, whose committee is responsible for vetting Supreme Court nominees, was asked by CNSNews.com where in the Constitution Congress is specifically granted the authority to require that every American purchase health insurance. Leahy answered by saying that "nobody questions" Congress' authority for such an action.

Pelosi: 'Are You Serious?' When Asked About Constitutional Authority. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did not explain where Congress gets the authority to force Americans to buy health insurance, when asked by CNSNews.com, and dismissed the query with the response, "Are you serious? Are you serious?"

In response to the same question...
Sen. Ben Nelson: 'I'm Not Going to Be Able to Answer That Question'. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) told CNSNews.com that because he is not a constitutional scholar he was "not going to be able to answer that question" of where specifically the Constitution authorizes Congress to mandate that individuals purchase health insurance.

Dems Shred The Constitution. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says it's constitutional to mandate insurance coverage. Congress, he insists, has "broad authority" to make us buy things to provide for the "general welfare." Democrats' Alice In Wonderland interpretation of what they consider to be a "living Constitution," where words mean what they say they mean based on political considerations, gets more bizarre by the minute.

Rule of Law versus Legislative Orders. The reason baseball games end peaceably, and players and team owners are generally satisfied with the process, whether they win or lose, is that baseball rules are known in advance. They apply to all players. They are fixed, and umpires don't make up rules as they go along. ... That Americans have become ruled by orders and special privileges helps explain all the lobbyists, money, and graft in Washington. We've moved away from a government with limited powers, as our Founders envisioned, to one with awesome powers.

The Education of Congressman Hoyer. Congress is moving closer to enacting a law requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says that this is "like paying taxes." He's right about that. But Hoyer made this statement as part of an effort to justify the health-care mandate on constitutional grounds. Here he indicates that he doesn't understand the Constitution that he took an oath to support. When asked what power the Constitution gives to Congress to enact this legislation, Hoyer claimed that it came from the Constitution's "general welfare" clause.

Do Not Blame Barack. [Scroll down] When I hear the [tea party] protesters complain about the violation of the Constitution, I have to wonder we [sic] they've been. Did they miss the activist 1947 "separation of church and state ruling"? Have they learned about FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society? Don't they realize that the federal government long ago exceeded its constitutional bounds? Where is the constitutional mandate for Uncle Scam to involve itself in and/or fund housing, food stamps, farm subsidies, Medicaid, global-warming research, mass transit, and school sports programs?

Mandatory Insurance Is Unconstitutional. Federal legislation requiring that every American have health insurance is part of all the major health-care reform plans now being considered in Washington. Such a mandate, however, would expand the federal government's authority over individual Americans to an unprecedented degree. It is also profoundly unconstitutional.

Czarist Washington. The Framers of the Constitution knew that the document founding our democracy must be the anchor of liberty and the blueprint for its preservation. Wisely, they provided a balance of powers to ensure that no individual and no single arm of government could ever wield unchecked authority against the American people.

Did someone mention President Obama's czars?

Health-Care Reform and the Constitution. Last week, I asked South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, where in the Constitution it authorizes the federal government to regulate the delivery of health care. He replied: "There's nothing in the Constitution that says that the federal government has anything to do with most of the stuff we do." Then he shot back: "How about [you] show me where in the Constitution it prohibits the federal government from doing this?" Rep. Clyburn, like many of his colleagues, seems to have conveniently forgotten that the federal government has only specific enumerated powers. He also seems to have overlooked the Ninth and 10th Amendments, which limit Congress's powers only to those granted in the Constitution.

Constitution Day — What Constitution? Americans are slow to rile, but in the end it will come down to millions of them preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States, thus their freedom and liberty, by any and all means. What we are witnessing today is nothing less than an avalanche of freedom that has been triggered by a government who has lost all allegiance to the constitutional limits on its power and a collection of traitors who have thumbed their collective noses at the consent of the governed.

The Left's new enemy: 'Tenthers'. Some on the left see them as radical and infinitely more dangerous than the birthers. ... Who are the dastardly people who are now unhinging the left? They are the "Tenthers," those who believe the 10th Amendment — reserving to the states and the people all powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states — isn't dead letter.

The Editor says...
Scoff at the Constitution if you like, but you'll miss it when it's gone.

Is Health Care Reform Constitutional? Where in the U.S. Constitution does it say the government can force people to buy health insurance? And by what authority does it prohibit the purchasing of insurance across state lines?

The Brevity Act: Time for a 28th Amendment. Earlier this year, Congress passed a "Stimulus" Bill. It was 973 pages long. This past Friday, the House passed a "Climate Change" Bill. It was more than 1200 pages long. This got me wondering: how long, exactly, is our Constitution? How many pages did it take our country's founders to lay out the structure and functions of our Federal Government?

Congress Needs A Read-The-Bill Bill. Lawmakers voted on the stimulus and global warming bills without having read either. Eventually they'll vote on health care legislation that could fund unrelated items. Time to end this systemic fraud. The stimulus bill, signed into law less than a month after Barack Obama took office, reached 1,434 pages and will eventually cost the nation more than $1 trillion.

Bailing Out of the Constitution. It is high time Americans heard an argument that might turn a vague national uneasiness into a vivid awareness of something going very wrong. The argument is that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) is unconstitutional.

It ain't America no more. In America, school security guards don't get to revise the First Amendment to suit their whims. Nobody does. But that's exactly what happened at a Reston town-hall meeting sponsored by Alexandria Democratic Rep. James P. Moran last week. Fairfax County Public School Security Officer Wesley Cheeks Jr. took it upon himself to decide that one sign — among a panoply found outside the event — crossed the line.

Is the United States of America Doomed? America has faced grave crises previously: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Depression, Fascism, and Communism. In every instance, we managed to prevail. But with diminishing self-esteem prevalent, it is easy to be pessimistic about our prevailing again. And yet we have ammunition in this battle that Europe lacks — such as, God-fearing people, a formidable military, guns in the closet, talk radio and of course our Constitution.

Majority believe government is doing too much. A new Gallup poll shows that the number of people who believe government has its hand in too many areas of American life has reached its highest point in more than a decade.

Americans More Likely to Say Government Doing Too Much. Americans are more likely today than in the recent past to believe that government is taking on too much responsibility for solving the nation's problems and is over-regulating business. New Gallup data show that 57% of Americans say the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to businesses and individuals, and 45% say there is too much government regulation of business. Both reflect the highest such readings in more than a decade.

Introducing the Tenth Amendment. The question to be explored is this. By what authority does the federal government intervene in health care? Ah, the stumper! This is the kind of question that reduces arguments to sputtering. ... The idea that government (whatever that is) exists to fix problems (whatever they are) is so ingrained in the common mentality that the very question of what is proper is not even considered. Surely only cranks and constitutional fossils would ever go there! But, of course, our founding fathers started there.

Health Care and the Ailing Constitution. Here's the question I didn't get a chance to ask President Obama when he stopped by Montana recently. So far as I know, no one else has asked it of him either: "If the federal role in health care is not enumerated in the Constitution, and it isn't, then shouldn't it be reserved to the states or the people as guaranteed by the 10th Amendment?"

Charity and the good ol' Constitution. "Where do you find in the Constitution any authority to give away the public money in charity?" It might be a question out of today's headlines, but it isn't. ... That question was asked not of President Obama nor of Sen. Max Baucus or Rep. Nancy Pelosi, but of the less well-known Tennessee congressman, David Crockett.

Mark of the True Conservative. As on his radio show, so in this book, [Mark] Levin is unapologetic in his indictment of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and successive generations of FDR acolytes — including LBJ and BHO — for perpetrating a "counterrevolution" against the limited government prescribed by our Constitution and for creating and expanding a welfare state that breeds dependency in the people and that — if not soon dismantled — will bankrupt our nation.

America's True Genius. The Founding Fathers designed our Constitution so as to make it very difficult to bring about significant changes. New legislation requires majorities in both houses of Congress followed by a presidential signature. ... This suggests the Founding Fathers were suspicious of quick and easy change. The actual genius of America, and what makes our country unique, is precisely the opposite of change.

Has the US Run Amuck Constitutionally? The Ninth and 10th amendments specify that the federal government may not do anything that isn't spelled out in the Constitution. That is why, after citing 200 pages of constitutional abuses and violations by our government, Judge Andrew P. Napolitano concludes in his book "Constitutional Chaos" that the whole government has run amuck constitutionally, and we must question and be leery of its future motivations and decisions.

The easiest way to add two more Democratic Senators.
Statehood for D.C.? The District [of Columbia] was allotted a delegate in 1970 precisely because the Constitution doesn't permit it to be given a representative. In 1978, Congress passed a constitutional amendment to grant the District a representative and senators because a statute couldn't grant the representation. The amendment failed when only 16 states ratified it within seven years.

Congress needs tutorial on the U.S. Constitution. Some federal employees are griping because a new law requires them to take a 25-minute tutorial on the U.S. Constitution. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., … deserves our thanks for this great idea because most Americans, including public officials, are abysmally ignorant of the text and the meaning of our Constitution. The only thing the matter with his law is that he should have required a constitutional tutorial to be taken by judges and members of Congress.

The Lincoln Legacy Revisited. The Founding Fathers established the Constitutional Union as a voluntary agreement among the several states, subordinate to The Declaration of Independence, which never mentions the nation as a singular entity, but instead repeatedly references the states as sovereign bodies, unanimously asserting their independence.

Signing Away Our Constitution: The Bush administration � has adopted the use of the signing statement, affixed to legislation when signed into law, as a means by which the legislative power may be more fully exercised by the office of the president, despite and against the Constitution's sole delegation of this power to Congress.

No child left behind — Republican ode to socialism. The Constitution grants no authority for the federal government to be involved in education, and for good reason: centralizing all learning in one distant spot is a stupid, narrow, dangerous, communist idea, one which has throughout all the world's history led to despotism and slavery. Thus our forefathers limited federal power to a few necessary objects like national defense and foreign policy, and not at all to education.

Is it permissible? In February 1887, President Grover Cleveland, upon vetoing a bill appropriating money to aid drought-stricken farmers in Texas, said, "I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and the duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit."

Back to the Constitution. "The Heritage Guide to the Constitution" is an essential reference book for anyone interested in our nation or in democracy in general.

Is Anything Not Interstate Commerce? It is doubtful a single member of Congress — except Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Republican — truly wants a Supreme Court that is serious about the Constitution's limits on congressional power.

A living Constitution for a dying Republic: FDR's extra-constitutional exploits opened the door for the judiciary to … read into the Constitution what was necessary to make it conform to the demands of the prevailing political will.

The issue here isn't medical marijuana, it's the Tenth Amendment.
The high cost of nuances: The question before the Supreme Court was not whether allowing the medicinal use of marijuana was a good policy or a bad policy. The legal question was whether Congress had the authority under the Constitution to regulate something that happened entirely within the boundaries of a given state.

Watergate and the Weather Underground: It was Nixon, after all, who (in defiance of the Constitution) created the Environmental Protection Agency. He signed the law creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; enacted wage and price controls; expanded the size and reach of the "civil rights" enforcement bureaucracy; and in manifold other ways abetted the growth of the regulatory leviathan. Compared to the routine crimes against the Constitution committed by Nixon by way of official policy, Watergate was little more than a series of silly pranks.

The Federal Monopoly: Both sides in the actual Civil War were engaged in subjugation. The South was protecting chattel slavery; the North was denying the right of secession on which this country was founded. At the time the Constitution was adopted, several states, including Virginia and New York, ratified it on the express condition that they might withdraw from the Union at any time they deemed it in their interest to do so.

"We the People": A Mandate or a Motto? Article V of the Constitution provides the process by which the Constitution may be amended. That process does not permit the judiciary to do so by issuing rulings that contradict the Constitution or by creating "constitutional" rights that do not exist in the Constitution. When that happens, as can be seen in some of this year's Supreme Court decisions, it is a government of men and not of laws. Consequently, "We the People" ceases to be a mandate and is reduced to a mere motto bereft of meaning.

Parting company is an option: Every single bit of evidence shows that states have a right to secede. There's absolutely nothing in the Constitution that prohibits secession. What stops secession is the brute force of a mighty federal government, as witnessed by the costly War of 1861.

Support the Liberty Bill Act and put the Constitution on our dollars. Four years ago students from Liberty Middle School in Ashland, Virginia developed a presentation about the Constitution. In working with the kids, their teacher, Randy Wright, had a thought: wouldn't it be great if our dollars carried a copy of the Constitution on back? The kids liked the idea so much they decided to push politicians at all levels to make it happen.
( http://www.libertydollarbill.org - the Liberty Bill Act web site. )

Eradicating the Constitution: Socialism is not in desperate retreat, as falsely proclaimed by the establishment press. On the contrary, it moves forward confidently, aggressively and, for the most part, uncontested everywhere in the world.

Nelson bill would abolish Electoral College. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College on Friday [6/6/2008], less than a week after the Democrats settled on how to handle delegates from Florida at their national convention. "It's time for Congress to really give Americans the power of one-person, one-vote, instead of the political machinery selecting candidates and electing our president," Nelson said in a release announcing the amendment.

Crime Fighters vs. the Constitution. The authors of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act did not even pretend they were exercising powers granted by the Constitution. This week the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether they were, focusing on a provision of the 2006 law that permits civil commitment of federal prisoners deemed to be "sexually dangerous." Such preventive detention is bad enough when states do it, since it keeps people locked up indefinitely after they have completed their sentences, based not on crimes they have committed but on crimes they might commit. The federal version is even worse.

The Lawless State: Sometimes the deepest changes in a political system sneak in almost unnoticed. So it has been in the United States, which has quietly shifted from being a decentralized federal republic to being a centralized democracy. … If the Founding Fathers could see us now, they'd surely ask, "How on earth did you get yourselves into this mess?" We've managed to do nearly everything the Constitution was designed to prevent us from doing.

None Dare Call It Fascism. Fascism operates under the principle of "might makes right," through the exercise of raw, naked governmental police power. In America today, the increasingly rough-shod violation of constitutional rights by government agents in the name of "protecting the environment" or the "war on drugs" is an indication of how far we are proceeding in this direction.

Let's do some detective work. Today's White House proposes and Congress taxes and spends for anything they can muster a majority vote on. My investigative query is: Were the Founders and previous congressmen and presidents, who could not find constitutional authority for today's bread and circuses, just plain stupid and ignorant?

Getting back our liberties: We all have a moral obligation to pay our share for constitutionally mandated functions of the federal government, but we have no such obligation to have Congress take the earnings of one American and give them to another American. Forcing one American to serve the purposes of another is one way slavery can be defined.

Job security: Americans have suffered decades of nutty decisions from the Supreme Court. At the present time our precious American values are on the line, as arrogant judges decide for the rest of us how we should live our lives. Now they purport to tell us how we can worship our God even though the Constitution clearly forbids their meddling.

The Price of Incremental Lawlessness: Article X of the Bill of Rights prohibits the federal government from authority to regulate our lives in any areas other than what is specifically given the federal government by the Constitution. Where in the Constitution is the federal government given power to regulate education, medical care, social welfare, or the private ownership of guns?

Back to Basics: Our founding fathers gave us a Constitutional Republic. Because of them, we were born free. Nevertheless, we could die slaves because we have lost sight of basic truths.

The Bill of Rights is Taking a Beating

You may be interested in reading The Fourth Amendment, with legal notes.

Ministry of Truth, Obama-style. President Obama has been agitating for the authority to criminalize political opponents since he took office. First there was the raft of DHS reports profiling conservatives as terrorists. Then came the push for a new fairness doctrine, subsequently refined to be achieved in diversity regulations to be imposed on local radio stations. Following these attacks on free speech was the much debated hate crimes legislation, considered by many to be a back-door path to silencing critics of the administration. But, while dangerous to free speech, none of these draconian policies could do as much damage as new regulatory czar Cass Sunstein's shocking proposal to ban "falsehoods" — a term left up to the Obama administration to define. If Sunstein succeeds, free speech will be truly dead in America.

FTC has no business in media business. There is nothing in the Constitution — zero, nada — that authorizes government to fund private news organizations, to choose "certain types of news organizations" for special tax favors, or to define what are "optimal amounts and types of journalism," most especially not including "public affairs coverage." People in journalism had better wake up now before this funeral train for press freedom leaves the station.

Publisher Accuses Reid of 'Bullying' Nevada Newspaper. The publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told his advertising director he wants the newspaper "out of business."

Court OKs barring religious tunes at graduation. A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday [9/8/2009] upheld a school district's refusal to let a band play a religious piece at a high school graduation, saying the superintendent had reasonably decided to avoid a constitutional controversy by ordering a secular program.

Computers, Customs, and You. Without a warrant, probable cause or even the faintest suspicion, US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) may decide to search your computer and all its files, your cell phone, and iPod when you return home from abroad. It offers the usual excuse for eviscerating the Fourth Amendment: "Our ability to inspect what is coming into the United States is central to keeping dangerous people and things from entering the country and harming the American people." Actually, its ability to inspect is harming the American people since Customs' warrantless rummaging sends some victims to prison.

Bozell to FTC: Keep Your Paws Out of the News Media. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced plans for a two-day workshop in December to examine the state of the news industry — which could lead to recommendations for legislation to regulate print, television, and even online media on everything from changes in anti-trust land copyright law to media tax breaks. Some of the proposals being pushed by opinion leaders include direct government funding of media outlets...

FTC Plans to Study Journalism's Woes — and That's a Problem. The Federal Trade Commission is scheduling public workshops on the media — two full days to examine the problems of journalism. Please permit me to be subtle: What a DUMB idea!!! This is the Federal Trade Commission we're talking about.

End Run on Free Speech. [Some] analyses treat free speech as not an inherent good but as a merely instrumental good, something justified by serving other ends — therefore something to be balanced against, and abridged to advance, other goods. The good for which Zephyr Teachout would regulate speech is combating corruption, which, as she understands it, encompasses most of contemporary politics. A visiting law professor at Duke, writing in the Cornell Law Review, she makes an astonishingly far-reaching argument for emancipating government from First Amendment restrictions on its powers to regulate political speech — speech about the government's composition and conduct.

The ID Passes on Pass ID. Once again our federal government is trampling all over the U.S. Constitution, specifically the 10th Amendment, as well as sacrificing our right to privacy and our beloved belief that an individual is innocent until found guilty by a court of law. By mandating certain criteria and information, specifically biometric information (fingerprints and digital facial recognition friendly photos), be contained on state issued drivers licenses, the federal government dictates to the states of the Republic what is to be the purview of the states and the states alone.

School prayer charges stir protests. Students, teachers and local pastors are protesting over a court case involving a northern Florida school principal and an athletic director who are facing criminal charges and up to six months in jail over their offer of a mealtime prayer.

Against the Rulers of Darkness. We are involved in a war. It is a war between differing political ideologies, mind-sets, and world-views. ... At its heart, it is a war between spirituality and egoism, a war between truth and falsehood, between right and wrong. As I write this, two Florida teachers may lose their retirement benefits, and spend six months in jail for their "flagrant" violation of the First Amendment. Their crime? They said Grace before eating a meal, while on school grounds.

Rediscovering the 10th Amendment — Too Little, Too Late. In describing the constant blatant assault on the Constitution, one hardly knows where to start. The federal government runs Social Security, a 50-state Ponzi scheme that makes Bernie Madoff look like an underachiever. What about Medicaid? It is a federal/state program of health care for the poor. What about the Department of Education? It unconstitutionally involves the federal government in state-run education and comes with rules and mandates attached to the money.

Cooperate, Or Else! In a free society, the criminal laws are supposed to be clear so that citizens will know what conduct is prohibited. With the Hiibel ruling, the Supreme Court has created a situation where ordinary Americans cannot be sure if they are invoking their constitutionally-guaranteed rights or whether they are committing a crime.

A clear violation of the 4th amendment:
Workers coming inside to assess a home's worth. Don't look now, but that could be the Norfolk real estate assessor at your door. Not content with merely taking a gander at the exterior of your abode, and factoring in building permits and sales of comparable houses, Deborah Bunn and her lieutenants want to snoop around inside to determine your castle's worth.

Picking us off one at a time. Every week, 15 women gathered at Diane Reiter's Denver home for Bible study, prayer and dinner. There was no loud music, speeches or other noise. Nonetheless, the Denver zoning administration served Reiter with a cease-and-desist order citing a municipal ordinance that prohibits more than one "prayer meeting" a month in a private home.

Conveniently Tightening the Noose: State Senator Moe Keller (D-Jefferson) has introduced a bill, SB 48, that would outlaw the right of citizens to use the telephone to alert their fellows to actions taking place in the Legislature! Unless you, the citizen, had "a prior relationship" with people being contacted, it would be illegal. That's right, general citizen alerts are specifically verboten.

Volunteer: Vets Hospital Taking Away Freedom of Religion, Speech. It's a house of worship with none of the symbols. There are no crosses or Bibles on display at the Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center chapel. Blinds cover elaborate stained glass windows. The reason is a federal policy from the 1950s, but one volunteer says it has been taken too far. Laud Pitt plans to hand out Christmas cards at the hospital Tuesday. But to do it, he says, he'll have to be escorted by the chaplain.

MIT Students Gagged by Federal Court Judge. Three students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were ordered this morning [8/9/2008] by a federal court judge to cancel their scheduled presentation about vulnerabilities in Boston's transit fare payment system, violating their First Amendment right to discuss their important research.

Update:
Boston judge tosses MIT students' gag order. U.S. District Judge George A. O'Toole, Jr., vacated the temporary 10-day gag order that another judge had instituted against the three MIT students who were prevented from presenting a talk on security vulnerabilities in the Boston subway's fare tickets and cards. The judge also threw out a request by the MBTA to expand the restraining order.

Gun nonsense in Mississippi. Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Frank Melton has received extensive criticism for his unusual approach to fighting crime. Melton has accompanied police officers as they conduct warrantless searches of homes, cars, and individuals. The mayor has even placed private citizens in "protective custody" without alerting the local district attorney. They may call it "protective custody" in Jackson, but it looks more like kidnapping from where I'm sitting.

The DC Gun Ban: Understand that residents of DC can be convicted of a felony and put in prison simply for having a gun in their home, even if they live in a very dangerous neighborhood. The DC gun ban is no joke, and the legal challenges to the ban are not simply academic exercises. People's lives and safety are at stake. Gun control historically serves as a gateway to tyranny. Tyrants from Hitler to Mao to Stalin have sought to disarm their own citizens, for the simple reason that unarmed people are easier to control.

Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border. Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed. Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Editor says...
This is clearly a violation of the Fourth Amendment, in the absence of probable cause or reasonable suspicion.

Public Pressure Mounts Against Invasive Border Searches. Random, invasive laptop searches and other digital privacy violations at the U.S. border are facing increasing pressure from the public and Congress. One of the big complaints EFF and others have had is the lack of information and accountability about the intrusive examination of computer files, cell phone directories, and other private information — and the indiscriminate copying of that data — as Americans come back home from overseas.

Unsuspected travelers' laptops may be detained at border. This rings all alarm bells (also, the words 'police state' come to mind). I think that anyone who is considering traveling to the US should think twice before doing so. I wonder what would happen to anyone who has the 'wrong' combination of digital data and paperwork on him ...

Now They'll Take Your Laptop. [Scroll down slowly] Being "randomly" wanded and frisked at an airport-security checkpoint is bad enough, but at least the inconvenience is brief. But the new seizure policy essentially keeps law-abiding business travelers, with their entire professional lives on laptops, hostage to a government agency and prevents them from doing their jobs -- again, all without a hint of probable cause. That's more than an annoyance: It's official theft of your ability to make a living.

It sounds like Big Brother is waiting at the airport.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

— United States Constitution, Amendment IV

LA bans racist 'N-word'. Los Angeles on Friday [11/09/2007] voted to ban the racist "N-word" with city councillors saying they hope the symbolic gesture will stop people from using the epithet in any context. … America's much-cherished constitutional right to free speech means anyone using the insult within Los Angeles is not committing a crime. An identical measure has already been passed in New York.

The Editor says...
Some words are offensive to some people; some are offensive to nearly everybody. But their use is protected by the First Amendment, even if the speaker lacks self control and common decency.

The End of "The Right to Remain Silent": Every kid who has watched a re-run of TV cop shows knows that "you have the right to remain silent" when the police come knocking. Except that, now, you don't. In Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District of Nevada, the Supreme Court, in one stroke, turned Justice Jackson's advice on its head, and turned generations of TV cop shows into so much false advertising. Silence, said the Court, is not only not privileged: it can get you thrown in jail.

Court rules home worship OK. A federal court ruled a Florida county cannot prohibit a rabbi from holding prayer and worship services in his own home. Rabbi Joseph Konikov of Orlando was faced with two land-use ordinance violations filed by Orange County.

[Why was that even debatable?]

"Speak English" sign ruling appealed. A tavern owner is asking a state agency to reconsider a controversial ruling that declared as discriminatory a sign that says, "For Service Speak English." … If the ruling stands, tavern owner Tom Ullum could be ordered to remove the sign, undergo diversity training and pay for anti-discrimination advertising.

Vehicle Searches Allowed on Ferries, The Fourth Amendment Notwithstanding. Steve Reinmuth, senior deputy attorney general, said that constitutional prohibition was preempted by an order the Coast Guard issued June 21 [2004]. Rear Adm. Jeffrey Garrett, commander of the Coast Guard's 13th District, said the order requires Washington State Ferries to comply with all federal maritime-security requirements effective July 1 — including physical inspections, if necessary. He would not provide a copy of the order, again citing security concerns.

Editor's Note: This is particularly interesting. Not only has the Coast Guard issued an order superseding the Fourth Amendment, they won't even publish the order. How are Americans expected to obey laws that can't be made public?

A blow to the Fourth Amendment. With one "stroke of the pen" the protection We the People have enjoyed against "unreasonable searches and seizures," which has stood for well more than two centuries, has been blue-lined into oblivion, at least in three states of the union. Police are now free in virtually every instance, to search a person's home or office without a warrant, and without any cause to believe there is contraband therein or a reasonable belief they are in danger.

End election-law nonsense. We're riding a camel here of destructive impingements on the First Amendment. … I say, pile on the incursions, pile on the devaluing of our rights. Pile it all on until finally, hopefully, we can break this camel's back.

September 11th Used as Catalyst for Assault on Bill Of Rights? "The dreadful attacks of September 11th were just the beginning of more attacks against Americans. The horrific loss of life turned out to be the justification for both parties to annihilate the Bill of Rights," said Constitution Party National Committee Chairman Jim Clymer.

Federal aid fuels spending by states. State and local governments have used big increases in federal aid to help cover higher spending since 2000, a move away from the tradition of using local taxes to pay for local programs.

The Editor says...
This is a blow to the 10th Amendment. Federal money always has strings attached. Speaking of the 10th Amendment...

Do More Cops Equal Less Crime? [Scroll down] Leading the charge is Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who sponsored that bill and is pushing legislation to hire another 50,000 officers, at a cost of $3.6 billion over six years, under the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. … The sponsors suggest the Bush administration has abdicated its crime-fighting duties by not providing funds for additional hiring. What they conveniently forget is that the program was supposed to be a temporary boost rather than a permanent obligation. Local law enforcement has historically been the responsibility of cities and counties, not the federal government.

Why Ignore Supreme Court's Threat To Free Press? Having spent years as a newspaper reporter and editor, I am proud to be called an "ink-stained wretch." But I am mystified by the newsroom silence about a legal dagger aimed at the heart of the First Amendment and the free press.

Court Opens Door To Searches Without Warrants. It's a groundbreaking court decision that legal experts say will affect everyone: Police officers in Louisiana no longer need a search or arrest warrant to conduct a brief search of your home or business. Leaders in law enforcement say it will keep officers safe, but others argue it's a privilege that could be abused.

Our Republic on the Ropes: I join the chorus of voices condemning the assault that Congress and the Supreme Court have inflicted on the First Amendment — on our most essential, fundamental speech: the ability to criticize our elected officials.

The Federalization of Medicine. [Scroll down] Even though three months of surveillance produced no evidence he had sold or given away any medication, and even though he'd been prescribed the same dosages for years, the weight of the drugs alone (which, ironically, mostly contained acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol) was enough to provoke the mandatory minimum sentence. While [Richard] Paey was in prison, officials refilled a morphine pump that he had fitted during the course of the proceedings. That pump, paid for by the state of Florida, delivered over the course of each 48 hour period a larger dose of opioid medication than Paey had been convicted of possessing in the first place.

The Editor says...
The story above is included here because the case shows how the 9th and 10th Amendments are being routinely ignored by the federal government.

Warrants as a Security Countermeasure. More and more, we are living in a society where we are all tracked automatically all of the time. We can all be tracked by our cell phones. E-ZPass tracks cars at tunnels and bridges. [In Dallas, they're called Toll Tags.] Security cameras record us. Our purchases are tracked by banks and credit card companies, our telephone calls by phone companies, our Internet surfing habits by Web site operators. The Department of Justice claims that it needs these, and other, search powers to combat terrorism.

The Liberal Assault on Freedom of Speech: America has less freedom of speech today than it has ever had in its history. Yet it is widely believed that it has more.

Quartered Among Us: Through various pretexts, the military is gradually interjecting itself into domestic law enforcement in contravention of the Posse Comitatus Act.

Maryland Police Say Disabled Man Has "No Good Reason" For Handgun: The State of Maryland has denied a physically disabled citizen a permit to carry a concealed handgun because he does not have a "good and substantial reason" to be armed.

Stories of Anguish at the Hands of Police: Nine stories of abuse at the hands of California policemen.

State Inserts Itself Into Church Dispute: In a highly unusual move, the Iowa Supreme Court has decided to get involved in a church-related defamation case. At issue is the use of the phrase "spirit of Satan."

Defend your family, go to jail. A Brooklyn man who shot and wounded an intruder while defending his family will spend three days in Rikers Island, the same jail housing the burglar who terrorized his home, because he owns an unregistered gun.

Top Ten Campus Follies of 2002: [For example] An American University student was pinned down and handcuffed outside a Tipper Gore speech by plainclothes campus police who refused to identify themselves. The student was charged with stealing Gore's intellectual property by videotaping her speech, which was open to the public.

The feds are drunk with their power. Colorado is being blackmailed with its own tax dollars to lower the Blood Alcohol Content allowed while driving.

Forced Drugging Case Headed to Supreme Court: For more than four years, Missouri dentist Charles Sell has waited in a federal prison for his trial on charges of Medicaid fraud, and the delay is attributed to the government's persistent argument that Sell is not mentally competent to stand trial unless he is forcibly drugged.

The other terrorism: There's no real war on drugs, but it sounds and looks good. The half-hearted attempt, the resultant crime and costs to society provide fuel for the drug-legalization crowd.

California police state: The totalitarians are fully in control of America's largest state. The California Supreme Court ruled 4-3 last Thursday [1/24/2002] that police in the state may search cars if a driver fails to produce a license or registration, regardless of whether the officer has a warrant.

More Injustice on the Way: Gene Healy, a Cato Institute scholar, recently provided a thorough exploration of the unintended consequences of the new Bush-Ashcroft plan to federalize gun crimes, known as the Project Safe Neighborhoods program. The unintended consequences of this law are frightening.

Temptation averted: no "Lord's Prayer" at Woodbine. Woodbine [Iowa] High School was the center of attention Sunday over whether "The Lord's Prayer" would find its way into its graduation ceremony. In the end, the song didn't. School officials, graduates and the community abided by a federal judge's decision to ban the song following a lawsuit by two sophomore choir members from an atheist family.

Anti-gun Rep. Waxman Tries to Boot TV Cameraman From House Hearing: Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., tried unsuccessfully Thursday [4/18/2002] to have an accredited TV news photographer thrown out of a House subcommittee hearing. The hearing focused on whether to limit liability lawsuits against gun makers. Waxman, who favors gun control, insisted the cameraman was videotaping on behalf of the National Rifle Association.

Accounts of Press Censorship Surface in Washington: At least two accounts of credentialed members of the news media being ordered not to take photographs or record videotape from public sidewalks in non-secure areas were learned of Friday.

Federal Judge Orders Ten Commandments Removed: Threatened by fines, residents of a small town in Indiana say they were forced to remove a monument displaying the Ten Commandments from the lawn of the local courthouse, after a federal judge ruled on behalf of the state's civil liberties union.

Couple Sues to Continue Home Prayer Sessions after the local zoning board ordered them to stop holding prayer services in their home.

Sting Operations and the Separation of Powers: To detect and prosecute laws prohibiting victimless crimes, government typically curtails civil liberties and, by standing in for a real victim, creates opportunities for abuse and corruption in sting operations. Sometimes, prosecution of these crimes is furthered by offering various considerations to one member of the conspiracy at the expense of the others. This would normally be called bribery and subornation of perjury and is likely illegal, although commonplace.

The Death of Talk Radio: With Bush in the White House, talk radio gets a reprieve, but not a pardon. The new man to watch is Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Concerned that no liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh has yet appeared on the national scene, Daschle and his disciples may yet attempt to return to the Bad Old Days of government control of radio talk.

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