How many of you have noticed over the past few articles on the 14th Amendment that the Court has been the primary wielder of this amendment’s power? Right? I mean, most of the major shifts in power from state to federal have occurred, not by legislative statue, but Supreme Court interpretation. Abortion, marriage, contraceptives, integration …
The Amendments Series: The Fourteenth Amendment’s Enforcement Clause Read More »
“…Nor shall any State… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Equal protection under the law is an essential part of a Constitutional and free society. It would be silly to create a government tasked with writing laws to protect us and our private property from each other, confine …
The Amendments Series: Amendment 14, The Equal Protection Clause Read More »
“Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial …
The Amendments Series: The 14th Amendment, Due Process Read More »
Before I unpack the rest of the Fourteenth Amendment, I need to take a moment to hammer down the significance of “incorporation” and this amendment’s contribution to it. Prior to the amendment’s passage and even based on Supreme Court precedent, Barron v. Baltimore (1833), the Constitution and, more specifically, The Bill of Rights, did NOT …
The Amendment Series: The 14th Amendment-Incorporation Read More »
First of all, the Fourteenth Amendment is not one that I can successfully unpack in one blog post, so we’re going to look at Section One today and hopefully I’ll get to two more sections next week so that we don’t get hung up too long on one amendment. I’ll give y’all a brief overview …
The Amendments Series: The 14th Amendment, Section 1 Read More »
The Thirteenth Amendment may be a bit more familiar to you and most other Americans. Maybe you can’t remember off the top of your head what it did but as soon as you read it, you’ll go, “Oh yeah, I knew that.” But there’s much more to it than the obvious, and that’s what this …
“Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.” – Madison. An enslaved press does not necessarily entail a press enslaved by government. Click to read further.
Well, the Twelfth Amendment is a handful. It’s a properly long amendment, one that I highly doubt many Americans, including myself, know a whole lot about. So, here’s the text of the amendment. “The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall …
As I said Wednesday, the amendment process in the United States is unique and it’s a blessing. It allows for flexibility in the governing process while also preventing chaos. The Constitution, our government’s job description, has been updated and edited twenty-seven times over the course of the past two and a half centuries. It’s about …
One of the unique and beautiful aspects of the U.S. Constitution is that it can be amended. Our Constitution is our government’s job description and “we the people” should have the ability to update or change our government’s job description if we please. However, doing this is no small matter. We are fundamentally changing the …