Constitution

No-Knock Raids Rip a Hole in the Fourth Amendment

by John W. Whitehead April 20, 2022

“We’re all potential victims.”—Peter Christ, retired police officer It’s the middle of the night. Your neighborhood is in darkness. Your household is asleep. Suddenly, you’re awakened by a loud noise. Someone or an army of someones has crashed through your front door. The intruders are in your home. Your heart begins racing. Your stomach is tied in knots. The adrenaline is pumping ...

A Republic, Not a Democracy

by Scott McPherson December 17, 2021

Late-night political hack and former comedian Stephen Colbert doesn't usually warrant any notice, but he stumbled onto an important truth recently. Lamenting the possibility that the Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade, he whined that if only 27 percent of Americans (according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll) support such a move, and the court doesn't vote the ...

Constitution Day 2021: It’s Time to Make America Free Again

by John W. Whitehead September 15, 2021

“That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.” — Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale The Constitution of the United States represents the classic solution to ...

Impeach the Deep State for Its Conspiracy to Kill the Constitution

by John W. Whitehead February 15, 2021

All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger ...

Of Course They Are Unconstitutional

by Laurence M. Vance November 6, 2020

Amy Coney Barrett, a circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, became the 103rd associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on October 27, 2020, after she was administered the oath of office by Justice Clarence Thomas and the judicial oath by Chief Justice John Roberts. After the death ...

The Real Constitutional Crisis

by Laurence M. Vance November 1, 2020

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a crisis (plural: crises) is: 1a: the turning point for better or worse in an acute disease or fever b: a paroxysmal attack of pain, distress, or disordered function c: an emotionally significant event or radical change of status in a person’s life; a midlife crisis 2: the decisive moment (as in a literary plot); The crisis of ...

Democrats, Republicans, and the Constitution

by Laurence M. Vance May 1, 2020

In July 2017, after President Donald Trump had been in office for less than six months, Congressmen Al Green (D-Calif.) and Brad Sherman (D-Tex.) introduced in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives an article of impeachment (H. Res. 438) against the president for “High Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Said Green, “I am introducing Articles of Impeachment to begin a long ...

Betraying the Constitution

by John W. Whitehead December 10, 2019

“It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”—Thomas Paine While Congress subjects the nation to its impeachment-flavored brand of bread-and-circus politics, our civil liberties continue to die a slow, painful death by a thousand cuts. Case in point: while Americans have been fixated on the carefully orchestrated impeachment drama that continues to monopolize headlines,

A Gross Violation of the Constitution

by Laurence M. Vance March 28, 2019

Although Donald Trump had a Republican majority in Congress for the first two years of his presidency, he failed to obtain funding to build his signature wall between the United States and Mexico. Yet now that the Democrats control the House, he is more determined than ever to build his wall. But never mind the Congress, just declare a national ...

Summon Mark Judge to Testify in Kavanaugh Hearings

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2018

Preliminary Note: See my September 28 article “Brett Kavanaugh: A Black Mark on the Supreme Court?” and my blog post of today, "Trump's Sham FBI 'Investigation' of Kavanaugh." *** Now that Congress and President Trump have allowed a one-week delay in the Kavanaugh confirmation vote to permit further investigation, the FBI is ...

Suspending the Constitution

by John W. Whitehead September 19, 2018

“That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.”—Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale We can pretend that the Constitution, which was written to hold the government accountable, ...

Constitutional Conservatives Fail the Drug Test

by Laurence M. Vance July 13, 2018

The announced retirement of Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy from the U.S. Supreme Court (effective July 31, 2018) has conservatives salivating over the prospects of Donald Trump’s nominating a constitutional conservative to the Supreme Court. Although Kennedy was nominated to the High Court by Ronald Reagan, he has at times disappointed conservatives with some of his votes, especially ...