Constitution

When the Supreme Court Stopped Economic Fascism in America

by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 2015

There was a time when the Supreme Court of the United States defended and upheld the constitutional protections for economic liberty in America. This year marks the 80th anniversary of one of the Supreme Court’s finest hours, when it overturned Franklin Roosevelt’s agenda for economic fascism in the United States. The trend towards bigger and ever-more-intrusive government, unfortunately, was not ...

The Supreme Court’s Dreadful Record on Freedom

by James Bovard June 1, 2015

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the legality of the Affordable Care Act this past March. Several justices questioned whether a ruling against Obamacare would be “unconstitutionally coercive” to state governments that did not create health-care exchanges. The Supreme Court is sometimes hypersensitive about the authority of state governments when federalism issues are raised. But at the same ...

The Libertarian Angle: Trial by Jury

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 12, 2015

Each week, FFF president Jacob Hornberger discusses the hot topics of the day. This week, the folly of the minimum wage. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Podcast here.

Uniting Constitutional Protection for Economic and Social Liberties, Part 3: Can the Ninth Amendment Save Us?

by Steven Horwitz January 1, 2015

In part 2 of this series (December), I argued that unenumerated noneconomic rights such as those of parents or the right to marry are generally considered “fundamental rights” under the approach libertarian legal scholar Randy Barnett labels “Footnote Four-Plus.” That is, the rights of parents are nowhere enumerated in the Constitution including the Bill of Rights, but are nonetheless ...

Uniting Constitutional Protection for Economic and Social Liberties, Part 2: The Great Depression and the Great Divide

by Steven Horwitz December 1, 2014

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In part 1, I traced the evolution of “substantive due process” jurisprudence under which the Supreme Court protected a variety of unenumerated rights, both economic and personal, through the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Many of the unenumerated rights that had been protected ...

Uniting Constitutional Protection for Economic and Social Liberties, Part 1: Substantive Due Process and Unenumerated Rights

by Steven Horwitz November 1, 2014

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 We libertarians like to distinguish ourselves from our friends on the Right and Left by the fact that we care equally about both economic liberties and social/civil liberties. For libertarians the right to engage in contract and exchange with other consenting adults is just as important ...

Speaking on Liberty: Sheldon Richman Live! (video)

by Sheldon Richman October 24, 2013

Liberty Minded contributor Jason Lee Byas sits down with Sheldon Richman after his Constitution Day talk at The University of Oklahoma.  

From Articles of Confederation to Constitution (video)

by Sheldon Richman October 15, 2013

On September 17, 2013, FFF vice president and editor Sheldon Richman spoke at an event co-hosted by the University of Oklahoma Young Americans for Liberty and the Oklahoma University Students for a Stateless Society. Sheldon's talk was entitled "From Articles of Confederation to Constitution: Retreat for Liberty?"

TGIF: James Madison: Father of the Implied-Powers Doctrine

by Sheldon Richman July 26, 2013

James Madison famously wrote in Federalist 45: “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined.” Strict constructionists are fond of this quote, and often cite it in defense of their view that the Constitution established a government of strictly limited powers. But did it? One way to approach ...

The Constitutional Psychology of the American Empire (video)

by Bruce Fein February 27, 2013

On February 17, 2013, Bruce Fein spoke on behalf of Young Americans for Liberty at the International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C.

The War on Terrorism, the Constitution, and Civil Liberties (Video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation February 25, 2013

Time to Can the Constitution?

by Michael Tennant January 30, 2013

Near the end of 2012, while Congress and the president were hashing out a deal to avert the “fiscal cliff,” Georgetown University constitutional law professor Louis Michael Seidman had this to say in a New York Times op-ed: As the nation teeters at the edge of fiscal chaos, observers are reaching the conclusion that the American system of ...