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Constitutionality Is Just For Those Law School Eggheads

By |2023-05-20T09:39:20-04:00May 2nd, 2007|

An AP story posted on MSNBC late this afternoon carries the following exchange — of sorts — between the Majority Leader of the Senate and the President concerning the Iraq war funding bill that the President vetoed yesterday:

“[Mr. Bush called] the original bill unconstitutional for directing war operations ‘in a way that infringes upon the powers vested in the presidency.’

“Outside the White House, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bristled at that claim. ‘We are not going to be submitting our legislation to somebody at one of the law schools to look for its constitutionality. We have an obligation, under the terms of the […]

We Missed "Law Day"!

By |2023-05-20T09:39:21-04:00May 2nd, 2007|

We admit it: The ACRU forgot that yesterday was “Law Day.”

And my bet is that you did, too. But special thanks and kudos go out to Rush Limbaugh, who just brought this oversight to our attention, as well as that of millions of his listeners.

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed May 1 to be Law Day, in order to draw attention to both the principles and practice of law and justice in America. Here is the text of his Proclamation:

WHEREAS it is fitting that the people of this Nation should remember with pride and vigilantly guard the great […]

Vicious Murderer to Have Another Hearing

By |2023-05-20T09:39:22-04:00May 2nd, 2007|

Smith v. Texas, No. 05-11304, was decided by the US Supreme Court on 25 April, in a sharply divided 5-4 decision. The convicted murderer was arguing against his death penalty sentence in accord with the theories of the ACLU’s Death Penalty Project.

As usually happens in such cases, the Justices supporting the ACLU position fail to describe the facts of the crime. The facts appeared only in the Dissent by Justice Alito, joined by the Chief Justice and Justices Scalia and Thomas:

Mr. Smith was a former employee of a fast-food restaurant. He took “some friends” to the restaurant. As the staff was […]

Be Compassionate: Let the ACLU Win One

By |2023-05-20T09:39:22-04:00May 1st, 2007|

My colleague John Armor notes below (“ACLU Gets It Dead Wrong in Indiana”) that our friends at the American Civil Liberties Union have sued Indiana, alleging that the state’s failure to charge a fee for a license plate bearing the national motto, “In God We Trust” constitutes discrimination, since the state does charge a fee for other “specialty plates.”

John points out that the “In God We Trust” plate is not really a specialty plate, but is one of two standard plates the state issues without a special charge. This would seem to be enough to dispose of the ACLU’s complaint. Still, there is […]

We're Not Asking That Much

By |2023-05-20T09:39:24-04:00May 1st, 2007|

A headline among today’s MSNBC news entries reads, “Immigrant rights groups rally across the U.S.” The story beneath the headline notes that some of the participants in the rallies will decline to wear T-shirts they donned last year, which bore the message, “We’re illegal. So what?” Cooler heads have apparently concluded that this particular slogan was, for a variety of reasons, imprudent.

The MSNBC story also notes that a number of rallies will highlight how “families are being torn apart” by law enforcement raids and the deportation of parents found to have entered the country illegally.

In this story, as in […]

Sanity at Utah: Students, Faculty May Defend Themselves

By |2023-05-20T09:39:24-04:00April 30th, 2007|

Bill Otis, my colleague here at the ACRU blog and the Director of Legal Affairs for the American Civil Rights Union, has written a number of good posts on the subject of gun control in the wake of the massacre at Virginia Tech, including:

  • “A Tale of Two Cities”
  • “Don’t Mess with Miss America”
  • “Though you drive nature out with a pitchfork, she will still find her way back”

I, too, wrote recently on Ronald Reagan’s views on the subject.

So, I won’t spend much more space making the case for the Second Amendment and our right to keep and bear arms […]

A Dictionary for the Politically Incorrect (cont'd)

By |2023-05-20T09:37:54-04:00April 29th, 2007|

There’s been a terrific response to the Dictionary for the Politically Incorrect. Many of the comments show that our readers have had considerable experience with the pseudo-language of liberalism. I say “pseudo-language” advisedly, because that’s exactly what it is: The vocabulary of liberalism increasingly consists of a bunch of words from which any fixed meaning has been drained. Thus, to take but one current example, “follow a new direction in Iraq” actually means “surrender and go home,” but liberals know the electorate is unlikely to buy this outcome if stated for what it is, so it has to be called something else. […]

Property Taxes: The Road to American Serfdom

By |2023-05-20T09:37:55-04:00April 26th, 2007|

It is often said, and correctly so, that the hallmark of the American dream is homeownership. This was intentional at our country’s Founding. James Otis famously said, “A man’s house is his castle,” pointing to the essential link between homeownership and liberty (See “Against Writs of Assistance”, 1761). And James Madison ensured that this link would be preserved, by including protections of property rights in the Bill of Rights, under the Fifth Amendment.

One of the greatest barometers of the success of the American Experiment through our history has been the ever expanding portion of Americans that own their home, proving true that this indeed […]

VT Massacre Will Spawn Liability Cases

By |2023-05-20T09:37:55-04:00April 26th, 2007|

Students injured at Virginia Tech, and families of students killed, will file liability suits. They will be filed against the murderer and various other defendants. The most important defendant will be the University itself. And other universities across the country should be watching, to govern themselves accordingly.

There were warning signs about the Virginia Tech murderer. There were concerns expressed by teachers. There was a judicial finding that he was a danger to society. And there was the Virginia Tech representative who announced a year ago that “now our community can feel safe,” on the defeat of a bill to allow […]

McCain-Feingold In Trouble?

By |2023-05-20T09:37:56-04:00April 25th, 2007|

Paul Mirengoff reports on Power Line about signs of hope that a key section of the McCain-Feingold law — the blackout provision — could be in trouble at the Supreme Court:

“Today,…the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the Wisconsin Right to Life case, which arises from the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (the McCain-Feingold bill). At issue was the part of McCain-Feingold that “blacks out” advertisements made by anyone other than the campaigns in the final six weeks of the election season. Scott linked to [an] account of the argument by Allison Hayward.

“Allison is a leading critic of […]

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