COMMENTARY AND OP-EDS
Ken Klukowski: Legal A-Team on the Field for SCOTUS Religious Liberty Case
This column originally appeared on the Townhall website on February 10, 2010.The first round of briefs has now been filed in the pending religious liberty case Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. This is shaping up to be a big case that everyone should focus on come April.The case is about [...]
Let People Decide, ACRU Says in New Jersey Recall Brief
Today (Feb. 9) the American Civil Rights Union filed an amicus brief in support of a grassroots citizens effort to petition for recall of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).The Sussex County Tea Party and NJ Tea Parties United, which filed the original petition request to gather signatures as The Committee to [...]
COMMITTEE TO RECALL ROBERT MENENDEZ v. NINA WELLS, SECRETARY OF STATE, ET AL.
February 9, the American Civil Rights Union filed an amicus brief in support of a grassroots citizens effort to petition for recall of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).The Sussex County Tea Party and NJ Tea Parties United, which filed the original petition request to gather signatures as The Committee to Recall [...]
Jan LaRue: Justice Alito Dissents
This column originally appeared on the American Thinker website on February 6, 2010.It's a good bet that the conversation in the Supreme Court break room the morning after the president's State of the Union speech was about Obama's drive-by distortion of its ruling in Citizens United v. FEC. Predictably, the [...]
ACLU-Think Applied to Terrorists
This morning, in hearings before the Senate Intelligence Committee, several Administration leaders defended the idea of giving the would-be Christmas bomber the same rights as ordinary Americans in a criminal trial. This thinking, which mirrors the ideas of the ACLU, offers several ways that tens of thousands of Americans may [...]
John Armor: The Right to Recall the Rascals (U.S. Senators)
Do the citizens of the states have a constitutional right to recall their Members of Congress before the end of their set terms, if they become satisfied that their Members are seriously harming the interests of the people who elected them?
Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski: Citizens United Huge Step for Free Speech
On January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court empowered ordinary Americans to speak out on an equal footing with millionaires and the media in U.S. elections. Threatened by people being able to freely speak their minds, the president of the United States deceived the American people when discussing this court decision in the State of the Union.
Ken Klukowski: Why Obama Was Wrong to Slap the Supremes
Sad to say, the highlight of President Obama's first State of the Union address on Wednesday was when he took the opportunity to openly condemn the Supreme Court. For the first time in memory, a president lashed out with the justices seated just a few feet away from him. Talk about "in your face"! The attack from the president prompted his equally-partisan supporters in Congress to erupt in raucous applause. This marks a low point for constitutional government in America, where the third branch of government is publicly humiliated by our head of state, and where an entire political party joined in this shameful display of disrespect for our Constitution.
Ken Blackwell: Obama's Dawn Johnsen Appointment
Dawn Johnsen is President Obama's nominee to head the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). It's arguably the most important office at DoJ. OLC sets policy for the entire federal government.
Ken Klukowski: McDonald Gun-Rights Case: Round One Goes to the NRA
There is growing tension between the pro-gun parties to the upcoming Supreme Court gun-rights case. Perhaps concerned about the direction this case was going, the Court has taken the unusual step of granting the NRA's motion to be given separate time to speak during oral arguments. Round One in this historic fight for the right to bear arms goes to the NRA.
Peter Ferrara: We Really CAN Throw the Bums Out!
There is a way to fight back against a runaway Congress. Here's how it works. Over the past year, Congress has seemed to be out of control. From health care to global warming to stimulus spending, corporate bailouts, deficits, federal debt and beyond, Congressional leaders have been dismissive of alternative views, insisting that they know best. They have responded to critics with name-calling, calling them everything from "yahoos," to "Nazis," and "tea baggers."
Ken Klukowski: Founding Fathers Smiling After Supreme Court Campaign Finance Ruling
In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on Thursday, every American should be worried when the president of the United States starts threatening the highest court in the land.
Ken Klukowski: Does the Constitution Allow the Feds to Lock Up "Dangerous" People?
On January 12, the Supreme Court heard a case involving a federal law that empowers the federal government to keep dangerous people locked up after their prison sentences are over. Enough justices seemed skeptical, however, so the law may be struck down as unconstitutional.
Jan LaRue: Do You Trust Obamacare Analysts to Connect Your Medical 'Dots'?
Think of the Christmas "just wait 'til I get my Hanes on you" bomber as a deadly disease in your body next time the topic of Obamacare is raised. Despite having all the information needed, the U.S. government failed to catch the al Qaeda-trained terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, before he boarded the Detroit-bound plane with a high explosive hidden in his underwear.
ACLU Loses Big on a War-Fighting Decision
Over the objections of the ACLU and allied lawyers, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a Yemini man who joined the Taliban and Al-Qeada to fight against US-led opponents could be detained at Gitmo prison indefinitely. This decision is binding on all federal courts unless altered by [...]
Ken Klukowski: Politics as Usual Shouldn't Violate Constitution
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's, D-Nev., buyoffs to Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Mary Landrieu, D-La., for their votes for Obamacare are up against an important legal fact: They're unconstitutional.
Ken Klukowski: Our President Is Not Protecting Us
President Obama's team has scared the nation over the past week with pronouncements so crazy they leave you breathless. But worse still are the decisions they've made, decisions that show America is in danger, and that those charged with protecting us are failing to treat this life-and-death struggle as the war that it really is.
Ken Blackwell: The Left Goes to War Against Science, Surrenders on Terror
Two ongoing trends I chronicled during 2009 highlight an ironic situation: Leftists remain tough on their domestic political opponents, while lax when it comes to our real common enemies. As we recently saw with the Christmas airplane-bombing attempt, leftists seem bent on treating terrorists with kid gloves, insisting they receive rights normally reserved for U.S. citizens (even when this means failing to extract timely information that might save lives).
Ken Blackwell: President Obama: How About Bowing to Reality?
The editor of the New Yorker was once asked about the hip, cool, insider writing that graced his journal. Didn't its stylish prose go over people's heads? "We don't write it for the little old lady from Dubuque," he replied. Not pitching your case to the little old lady from Dubuque, Iowa, became a hallmark of modern sophisticated liberalism--a liberalism more characterized by point-of-view than by policy point papers. So when the New Yorker's Christmas week number hit newsstands, it was bound to attract attention.
Newt Gingrich and Peter Ferrara: A Vision for Prosperity
America is careening in overdrive in exactly the wrong direction, and the American people know it. All across this nation, people crave a new vision of leadership to restore traditional American prosperity and the American Dream, which they rightly see slipping away.