Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: U. S. Constitution

  • Calvinball, Big Balls, and the Age of Balls

    A couple of ballsy articles for your cojonic delectation. Jonathan Turley, The Judicial Calvinball of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson An excellent piece that ends on a weak and decidedly unmanly note: "I truly believe that Jackson can leave a lasting legacy and bring an important voice to the court." I'm guessing that the erudite and…

  • Birthright Citizenship and the 14th Amendment

    Robert Kuttner, in a piece entitled Supreme Contempt for the Constitution, writes, The Supreme Court issued a shocking ruling today, making it easier for President Donald Trump to overturn birthright citizenship. The way the Court did it was in keeping with its disingenuous strategy of using technicalities that allow it to duck the underlying question.…

  • Birthright Citizenship

    An important article. Mercifully brief. Double hat tip: Mark Levin, Tony Flood. Do your bit and propagate it. The crucial phrase: "subject to the jurisdiction thereof."  Critics claim that anyone born in the United States is automatically a U.S. citizen, even if their parents are here illegally. But that ignores the text and legislative history…

  • Trump’s Executive Order re: 2A

    I had been toying with the idea of heading to the range tomorrow morning; this 2A news just in, I am now going for sure to celebrate the Executive Order with a bang.  One hundred rounds worth. The Bill of Rights is just so much 18th century parchment unless and until backed up with Pb.…

  • Steve Bannon and Megyn Kelly on FAFO

    Here. Megyn Kelly, being relatively young, may be forgiven for referring to Elliot Ness as Elliot Nest (ouch!), but Steve Bannon, whose superannuation shows, and who ought to know better, either missed her mistake or let it pass, being the gentleman that he is.   In all other particulars, however, the short video is delightfully on…

  • MAGA, Majority Rule, and Consent of the Governed

    Here: In short, the political battle between the Left and Right is best understood as an existential fight over what America will be. The Left pushes for a metanoic transformation, while the Right tries to catalyze an epistrophic one. Metanoia is a forward-looking change — a recognition that one’s past way of life was flawed…

  • We Have a Problem . . .

    . . . and according to Malcolm Pollack, there's no fixing it: We have a problem, and as far as I can see, it isn’t going away; indeed, I expect it will get sharply worse in the wake of next month’s election. The problem, simply put, is that although the bedrock principle of the American…

  • John Kerry on the First Amendment and ‘Disinformation’

    Unbelievable. And you say we are not in a war? More proof that the Republic is hanging by a thread: Megyn Kelly on Kamala Harris. UPDATE 9/30 It's war for sure. Sasha Stone. Elon Musk. Victor Davis Hanson. Matt Taibi. Which side are you on?

  • Amendments or Addenda?

    The Bill of Rights. Amendments or additions? A reasonable question and a good distinction.  Addenda. I owe the point and the distinction to James Soriano. It's obvious when you think about it, but the question hadn't occurred to me. And always give credit where credit us due, else you'll end up like the Big Guy,…

  • Universal Suffrage

    I wrote, on 4 March,  The war is over the soul of America.  The question concerns whether we should (i) preserve what remains of America as she was founded to be, and (ii) restore those good elements of the system bequeathed to us by the Founders, while (iii) preserving the legitimate progress that has been made (e.g.…

  • Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution

    The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion . . . . (emphasis added) Whence it follows that Joseph L. Biden is in dereliction of duty, an impeachable offence.  Furthermore, “No State shall, without the Consent of Congress ……

  • When the Exercise of Rights Contributes to their Loss

    Civil courage and prudence are competing virtues. At times competition become collision. Top o' the Stack.

  • The Constitutional Maverick

    Richard A. Epstein: The maverick takes issue with both modern liberals and modern conservatives because he alone refuses to abandon two key pillars of our classical liberal constitutional theory: limited government and strong property rights. The modern maverick thus works in the Lockean tradition that was ascendant during the founding period. This classical liberal approach…

  • Would a Fascist Want an Originalist on the Supreme Court?

    First posted on 4 July 2018. ………………………………………. Donald Trump is called many things including racist, misogynist, xenophobe, and fascist. Suppose he is a fascist. Then he is not a very good one. For he is about to nominate an originalist to the high court. A fascist, however, would not want an originalist on the court…

  • An INDIVIDUAL Right to Keep and Bear Arms

    >>In District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme Court held in 2008 that the District’s handgun ban violated the individual right to keep and bear arms. The opinion clarified that to “bear arms” means to “carry arms” and has no exclusive militia context. And it rejected the view that the right could be dismissed or…