“If all mankind minus one were of one opinion,and only one person were of the contrary opinion,Mankind would be no more justifiedIn silencing that one person,Than he, if he had the power,Would be justified in silencing mankind.”-- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) The...
Last Thursday was Independence Day, commemorating when delegations from the thirteen colonies approved the Declaration of Independence. Often overlooked today is that the Declaration of Independence asserted the independence of each colony as its own nation — a state....
In his famous dissent in Olmstead v. United States, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis in 1928 called the right to be left alone the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. He was referring to the right to be left alone from the...
Can the president fight any war he wishes? Can Congress fund any war it chooses? Are there constitutional and legal requirements that must first be met before war is waged? Can the United States legally attack an ally? These questions should be front and center in a...
A recent column in The Economist magazine asking if America is dictator-proof got me to thinking if our constitutional guarantees are secure. Stated differently: Can the custodians of our constitutional norms be trusted to restrain a deliberate attempt to ignore,...
The United States Constitution specifies that gold and silver are money. “No State shall … make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts,” declares the Constitution. Further, one of the enumerated powers the Constitution lists for the US...
Most members of the United Sates Congress repeatedly and, it seems, without a second thought vote for legislation that violates the restraints imposed by the US Constitution. It has been this way for many years. That situation has helped a government of limited,...
In the last days of East Germany, when government officials detected that their power was unraveling, they ratcheted up enforcement of the nation’s reporting laws. The reporting laws made it a felony to know of a crime and fail to report it. It was also a crime to...
Last week, the Supreme Court effectively abolished the right to assembly in three Southern states. By refusing to hear an appeal of a speaker accused of being liable for what a protester did in an audience the speaker addressed, the court exposed all protest...
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