Marian Wang: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged to block the confirmation of three uncontroversial nominees for key banking regulator positions.
Why We Must Occupy Democracy
By
Robert Reich: The First Amendment is being stood on its head. Money speaks, and an unlimited amount of it can now be spent bribing and cajoling politicians. Yet peaceful assembly is viewed as a public nuisance and removed by force.
‘10 Commandments Judge’ Running for President
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Walter Brasch: The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who was removed from office for defying the Constitution and a federal court order is one of 14 major candidates running for the Republican nomination for the presidency.
Our Supreme Corporate Court: 3 Strikes and We’re Out!
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Gary Corseri: While the Court has been telling the wealthy “Full speed ahead,” some 45 million Americans have been getting by on food stamps, and several million more are too worried about their jobs &/or foreclosures to help bankroll local or national candidates
New Right-Wing Attack on 14th Amendment
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Andrea Nill: Vitter and Paul similarly argued that neither the language nor the intent of the 14th amendment were meant to confer “birthright citizenship to the children of illegal aliens.”
Election Results March 2011
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Election results for the March 8, 2011 election in Los Angeles are almost completely tallied. The results shown here were obtained from the Los Angeles City Clerk’s office. As newer information becomes available, this post will be updated. Check here for continuing updates.
What Does the Vitter-Paul Resolution to Amend the Constitution Solve, Exactly?
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Michele Waslin: In the latest attack on the Constitution and U.S. citizenship, Senators David Vitter (R-LA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced a resolution (S. J. RES. 2) last week proposing an amendment to the constitution to limit citizenship to children born in the U.S.
HSPD12 Employees Wait to See How NASA Responds
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In the wake of an 8-0 setback by the United States Supreme Court last week, the JPL plaintiffs in the HSPD12 case said they would now wait to see what NASA does in response to the decision. In a communication released to the JPL staff today the employees said “The ball is now in NASA’s court.
New START Is Worthy, but Let’s Not Violate the Constitution to Save It
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Ivan Eland: Denying Obama a victory—even if it’s good for the country—is very irresponsible. And on balance, the New START Treaty is good for the country.
Will Militarization of the First Amendment Undermine the Republic?
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Ivan Eland: Why has this reverence for the military arisen and become patriotic when it runs counter to the nation’s founders’ suspicions of large standing armies and foreign military adventures? A skeptic would attribute the excessive exaltation to guilt.
Killing Prop Hate: What Republicans Fear
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Tom Hall: A conservative Republican judge, appointed by George H.W. Bush has done what the Tea Party activists have been demanding – he restored the Constitution. Judge Vaughn Walker held that the U.S. Constitution, and its provisions requiring equal protection of the laws, required that Proposition Hate be stricken down.
Checks and Balances
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Ron Wolff: Government is simply the institutionalization over time of the collective will of the people at any given moment, established with at least one essential objective in mind: the prevention of the inevitable chaos that would result in its absence.
Biblical Law or Constitutional Law?
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Faith is as tangible as it is intangible. Religions institutionalize faith. Churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques are visible symbols of religion. I have “Born Again” faith. My faith is a personal matter, despite my just mentioning it. And, as a part of my faith, I respect the faith, religion and symbols of others. We live [...]
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Does the First Amendment Separate Church and State?
Is Thomas Jefferson’s famous phrase “wall of separation between church &
state” too broad an interpretation of the First Amendment? Historian Jon
Butler argues that original intent of the First Amendment was even broader
than that.