Category Archives: Constitutional Law

Regular readers in this forum might remember previous discussion of the 70-year-old U.S. Supreme Court case Wickard v. Filburn. The case crops up again in the latest issue of The Atlantic, cited by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski as “the most important Supreme Court case no one’s ever heard of.” TheContinue Reading

I just finished Jonah Goldberg’s excellent book The Tyranny of Cliches: How the Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas.  Each of the 24 chapters debunks a liberal cliché with equal portions of wit and wisdom.  The chapter on the “living constitution” is exceptional, especially this passage. “Drunk on a rich cocktail of Hegel, DarwinContinue Reading

As details continue to emerge about the Obama administration’s 2014 education budget proposal, Neal McCluskey, associate director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, continues to find more to dislike. In fact, McCluskey says from just a cursory review of the most recent developments “there seems to be a lot of bad stuff” beingContinue Reading

Barry Smith reports for Carolina Journal Online that a group devoted to constitutional law is questioning North Carolina’s system of government-controlled alcohol sales. John Hood’s Daily Journal suggests that Gov. Pat McCrory’s Medicaid reform proposal is heading in the right direction.

The latest issue of Hillsdale College’s Imprimis features Cal State-San Bernardino political science professor Edward J. Erler‘s analysis of the current national debate over gun rights. Erler delves into some of the fundamental differences of opinion among supporters and opponents of gun control. The principal constitutional debate leading up to the Heller decision was aboutContinue Reading

Headline from The Weekly Standard: “Toobin Predicts ‘DOMA’s in Trouble’: Gets whacked by an umbrella” On CNN, analyst Jeffrey Toobin predicts that “DOMA’s in trouble”: “I think DOMA’s in trouble,” said the analyst, as the Huffington Post reported. “I think it’s in trouble because Anthony Kennedy was repeatedly concerned that the Defense of Marriage ActContinue Reading

If Monday’s 10th-anniversary ceremony piqued your interest in North Carolina’s efforts to recover its copy of the Bill of Rights, you’re likely to enjoy this CarolinaJournal.tv recording of a 2010 presentation from journalist David Howard, author of the book Lost Rights: The Misadventures of a Stolen American Relic. Howard’s book documents the recovery efforts.

This forum does not always agree with Fareed Zakaria. But the TIME columnist is certainly on to something when he writes this week about the necessary preconditions within a society seeking to develop a successful democratic government. Along with several others, I have argued that countries with strong traditions of the rule of law tendContinue Reading