supreme court Archives - Page 12 of 38 - American Constitutional Rights Union

Charity on the Chopping Block

By ACRU Staff|2012-12-26T10:00:59-05:00December 26th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published December 22, 2012 on The Washington Times website.

With the “fiscal cliff” looming, Washington is looking under every rock for new forms of “revenue.”

Nothing appears sacred, not even mortgage and charitable deductions, which some are recasting as “loopholes.” Ending the mortgage deduction when the housing market is finally showing signs of recovery would be like giving a cancer patient strychnine to make him feel better.

Even worse would be ending the charitable deduction, for the simple reason that this deduction encourages private-sector benevolence, which the federal government under President […]

Fewer Guns, More Crime

By ACRU Staff|2012-12-20T13:15:43-05:00December 20th, 2012|

This column by ACRU General Counsel and Senior Fellow for the Carleson Center for Public Policy (CCPP) Peter Ferrara was published December 19, 2012 on The American Spectator website.

To President Obama, the word “politics” means anyone who disagrees with him, as in the phrase “It is time to put politics aside.” Whenever he says that, he is really saying “It is time to put aside anyone who disagrees with me on this issue.”

Our hearts are all still hurting over the mass shooting and murder of 20 innocent small children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. But it was in the […]

Firearm Phobes Exploit School Shooting

By ACRU Staff|2012-12-18T11:02:57-05:00December 18th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue was published December 18, 2012 on Townhall.com.

When’s the last time you heard about a deranged gunman going on a shooting spree at a shooting range? Other than a spoof article on the Onion, a shooting range isn’t the preferred venue for a murderous shooting rampage.

Despite all of the shooters, guns and ammo, I feel safer at a shooting range than just about anywhere else. It doesn’t require expert analysis to understand why gun-free areas, not shooting ranges, are the preferred venues of those who want to murder as many victims […]

Our Government-Created Financial Crisis

By ACRU Staff|2012-12-13T23:13:53-05:00December 13th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Policy Board Member and Professor of Economics Dr. Walter E. Williams was published December 12, 2012 on Townhall.com.

Suppose you saw a building on fire. Would you seek counsel from the arsonist who set it ablaze for advice on how to put it out? You say, “Williams, you’d have to be a lunatic to do that!” But that’s precisely what we’ve done: turned to the people who created our fiscal crisis to fix it. I have never read a better account of our doing just that than in John A. Allison’s new book, The Financial Crisis and the […]

Why America Is Going to Miss the Bush Tax Cuts

By ACRU Staff|2012-12-10T11:35:05-05:00December 10th, 2012|

This column by ACRU General Counsel and Senior Fellow for the Carleson Center for Public Policy (CCPP) Peter Ferrara was published December 6, 2012 on Forbes.com.

President Obama seems to have a strategy to terminate all of the Bush tax cuts, not just those for “the rich,” as he has been saying since 2008. He is offering the Republicans exactly zero concessions in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations. No spending cuts, no entitlement reform, no compromise on the rates. It is entirely my way or the highway, and if the Republicans refuse to do everything exactly as he demands, he […]

Federal Appeals Court Likely to Invalidate Obama's Recess Appointments

By ACRU Staff|2012-12-06T13:15:16-05:00December 6th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published on December 5, 2012 on Breitbart.com.

President Barack Obama made headlines months ago when he installed controversial nominees to key government positions, bypassing the U.S. Senate by declaring the Senate in recess so that Senate confirmation was not needed. Today a federal appeals court signaled that it might rule Obama’s move unconstitutional, and remove those officials from power.

The U.S. Constitution says that Congress can by statute allow minor government players–“inferior officers”–to be appointed by the president, by Cabinet officers, or by the courts. But high-level administrative officials–called “principal officers”–must […]

Future Generations

By ACRU Staff|2012-12-05T13:49:54-05:00December 5th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Policy Board Member and Professor of Economics Dr. Walter E. Williams was published December 5, 2012 on Townhall.com.

Is there any reason for today’s Americans to care about what happens to tomorrow’s Americans? After all, what have tomorrow’s Americans done for today’s Americans? Moreover, since tomorrow’s Americans don’t vote, we can dump on them with impunity. That’s a vision that describes the actual behavior of today’s Americans. It would be seen as selfish, callous and ruthless only if it were actually articulated. Let’s look at it.

Businesses, as well as most nonprofit enterprises, by law are required […]

Deceitful Debate over Women in Combat

By ACRU Staff|2012-12-03T10:38:25-05:00December 3rd, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published November 30, 2012 on The Washington Times website.

Oblivious to important differences between men and women, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the Department of Defense to lift all combat exemptions for women.

Not putting women into combat deprives them of their constitutional rights, the ACLU is arguing on behalf of four servicewomen in a complaint filed Tuesday in a federal court in San Francisco.

“It’s harming women in the field now,” said Elizabeth Gill, a staff attorney with ACLU Northern California, to U.S. News & World Report. […]

ACRU Files Supreme Court Brief in Major Property Rights Case

By ACRU Staff|2012-11-29T21:58:42-05:00November 29th, 2012|

WASHINGTON, DC (Nov. 30, 2012) — In a case with profound implications for property owners, the American Civil Rights Union filed a brief at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, Nov. 28 arguing that bureaucrats so violated a Florida man’s constitutional rights against seizure of his property without proper compensation that it amounts to “extortion.”

The brief in Coy A. Koontz v. St. John’s River Water Management District, written by ACRU General Counsel Peter J. Ferrara, argues that state officials required conditions for issuing land use permits that constitute a “taking” prohibited under the Fifth Amendment.

In 1972, Coy Koontz bought 14.9 acres of land […]

Policies Meant to Achieve Equality Are Very Unfair to the Least Equal

By ACRU Staff|2012-11-29T19:23:03-05:00November 29th, 2012|

This column by ACRU General Counsel and Senior Fellow for the Carleson Center for Public Policy (CCPP) Peter Ferrara was published November 29, 2012 on Forbes.com.

Steve Moore begins his brilliant new book, Who’s the Fairest of Them All? The Truth About Opportunity, Taxes and Wealth In America, quoting President Obama saying, “We’ve sought to ensure that every citizen can count on some basic measure of security. We do this because we recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any moment, might face hard times, might face bad luck, might face a crippling illness […]