Tag Archives: constitution
The Supreme Court’s Partisan Divide
There can be little doubt that the current Supreme Court is politically biased. When ruling on major politically polarized cases, the court is divided along party lines. One can almost guarantee the decisions of those cases. There are no longer … Continue reading
Texas Woman’s Right to Choose Upheld by Supreme Court
In a 5 to 3 decision on Monday the US Supreme Court ruled against the constitutionally of a Texas law that required abortion clinics to be located in the immediate vicinity of emergency medical facilities in an attempt to stop the majority of abortion clinics from continuing to operate… Texas legislators consider abortions the murder of fetuses but cannot ban it for that reason due to the separation of church and state and the fact that a fetus has previously been ruled not a person so was not protected by the Constitution. So they cleverly figured a way to work around the constitution… Continue reading
Another Shooting at a University within One Week
Another shooting, this time at Northern Arizona University’s Flagstaff campus, took place yesterday when a gunman intent on killing many more than the one student he killed and the three he injured was maced and tackled by other students while trying to reload his gun. This could have very well turned into another mass killing in less than one week after the mass killing at Umpqua Community College. Continue reading
Separation of Church and State
The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States begins with: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” This was the vary first sentence in the Bill of Rights written by the original authors of the Constitution because of its importance. Many people such as the Pilgrims came here to escape religious persecution by the Church of England which was part of the British Royal Crown. The question is how important is the separation of church from state in the context of today’s world as many fundamentalist Christians want their moral and religious values legislated into law. Continue reading
Returning to the Essence: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
It is unfortunate that so much about our government and legislation is about promoting self-interests. I think the founding fathers intended this nation to be based upon common interests instead of self-interests but this goes contrary to our current self-centric nature which has corrupted our interpretation of the Bill of Rights. Prime examples of such interpretive corruptions are two Supreme Court rulings in the case of Citizens United vs. FEC that ruled that corporations could make contributions to political campaigns similar to ordinary citizens and McCutcheon v. FEC that recently ruled that a single donor can give up to $3.6 million in one election cycle. These two rulings have in essence empowered very rich corporations and individuals to make enormous political contributions to influence election outcomes. I am convinced that this nation was founded on the principle of fair rights and treatment for the vast majority of citizens not primarily the nobility and royalty of the rich. Continue reading
“War Powers Act” Repeatedly Ignored by Presidents
Article I, Section Eight Clause 11 of the Constitution says that “The Congress shall have power… To declare war…” In Article II, Section 2 the Constitution says “The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States…” Clearly the authors of the Constitution intended that Congress should have the sole responsibility for declaring war and that the President would have the power to command the troop once war has been declared, a clear division of power regarding war. Over the years the presidency has gained more and more power to engage in military actions independent of Congress primarily because a single person can response quicker to military emergencies. Towards the end of the Vietnam conflict Americans had enough of police actions so Congress pass the War Powers Resolution (Act) in 1973. Continue reading
Is Pro-Choice Biblical?
Anti-abortionists say that Pro-Choice means you are pro-abortion and are for killing fetuses. For many Pro-Choice advocates nothing could be further from the truth. Pro-Choice simply meant having the right to choose to have an abortion or not to have … Continue reading
The Right to Bear Arms – Did Founding Fathers Intend it for All?
Was the 2nd Amendment added to the Constitution by our founding fathers to make sure that the public could arm itself against a tyrannical government? Or did the founding fathers design the Constitution with the flexibility to accommodate change to avoid a tyrannical government? What is the most reasonable reason for incorporating the 2nd Amendment? Continue reading
Definition of Marriage – The LGBT Argument
There currently rages a social debate by both the LGBT community and conservative religious group whether same sex marriage should be the law of the land. Currently the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) enacted in 1996 defines marriage as being … Continue reading
The Right to Bear Arms – Or Not
The 2nd amendment to the Constitution states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.“ In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme … Continue reading