Video: From the Declaration to the Bill of Rights
Michael Ramsey
At Constitution Daily: Video: From the Declaration to the Bill of Rights Jeffrey Rosen speaks with philanthropist David M. Rubenstein about the relationship between the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, telling the story of how one landmark document led to the next in the context of the evolving story […]
Seth Barrett Tillman: Why Professor Lessig’s “Dependence Corruption” is Not a Founding-Era Concept
Michael Ramsey
At Constitution Daily, Seth Barrett Tillman: Why Professor Lessig's "Dependence Corruption" is Not a Founding-Era Concept. An excerpt: [B]oth Lessig and Teachout agree that they have identified a stable, unified meaning as to how the Framers (and the public during the Framers’ era) understood corruption in relation to the Constitution of 1787-1788: the Constitution of […]
Marco Simons on Originalism and Daimler v. Bauman
Michael Ramsey
At Concurring Opinions, Marco Simons (EarthRights International) has this post on the Daimler v. Bauman case (argued at the Supreme Court 10/15): Is There a Constitutional Right to Corporate Separateness? Mr. Simons and I have been on opposite sides of some cases in the past, but I think there is something to his originalist argument here: The […]
Richard Garnett on Legislative Prayer and Judicial Review
Michael Ramsey
At SCOTUSblog, Richard W. Garnett: Legislative Prayer and Judicial Review. After taking a year off from church-state cases, the Justices are set to jump back into the fray. In early November, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case called Town of Greece v. Galloway, which involves a smallish New York community’s practice of opening […]
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on the Civil Jury
Michael Ramsey
At the ACS Blog, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): Sounding the Alarm to Save the Civil Jury. Excerpts: As I recently explained in the National Law Journal,the civil jury came to the United States with the earliest colonists. It provided a means of self-government for Americans who chafed under British rule, and its preservation was vital […]
Charles C. W. Cooke (and Joseph Ellis) on the Second Amendment
Michael Ramsey
At NRO, Charles C. W. Cooke: Pride of Ignorance on Firearms. With some provocative suggestions, including this one: Scalia’s suggestion that rocket launchers may well be legally protected sits on equally solid ground. The two most recent Second Amendment decisions — D.C. v. Heller, which confirmed the obvious truth that the Second Amendment recognizes an individual right […]
Brianne Gorod on Cell Phone Searches and Riley v. California
Michael Ramsey
At the Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC) website, Brianne Gorod: The "Papers and Effects"on Your Cell Phone May Not Be as Private as You Think. This week, CAC filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court in Riley v. California, urging the High Court to review this case, which involves the search of petitioner David Riley’s […]
Ken Masugi on Originalism and Religious Liberty
Michael Ramsey
At Liberty Law Blog, Ken Masugi: Originalism and Religious Liberty (discussing Vincent Munoz, Religious Liberty and the American Supreme Court: The Essential Cases and Documents (2013)). Vincent Philip Munoz’s casebook, Religious Liberty and the American Supreme Court (Rowman and Littlefield, 2013) offers a way for professors (including those who teach undergraduate political science and law courses) to teach […]
Is the Federal Reserve Constitutional? by Peter Conti-Brown
Michael Ramsey
At Law and Liberty, Is the Federal Reserve Constitutional? by Peter Conti-Brown: The claim that the “Federal Reserve” is “unconstitutional” actually entails a broad family ofarguments. I can imagine four mostly distinct, sometimes overlapping lines of argument, although there may of course be others. First, the Fed is unconstitutional because it pursues bad policy. That is, […]
Adam Tate on Sotirios Barber: The Fallacies of Marshallian Nationalism
Michael Ramsey
At Law and Liberty, Adam Tate: The Fallacies of Marshallian Nationalism (reviewing The Fallacies of States’ Rights by Sotirios A. Barber (Harvard University Press 2013)). From the introduction: In this spirited polemic, Prof. Sotirios Barber defends the American nationalist constitutionaltradition, particularly the thought of John Marshall, from the attacks of both states’ rights advocates (who he calls “dual federalists) […]