No Picture

Term Limits for the Supreme Court?

August 23, 2015 Rob Natelson 0

This article first appeared in the American Thinker.
Term limits are among the reforms being proposed by advocates of curbing federal government abuses through the Constitution’s Article V amendment process.
The idea of congressional term limits has been around for some time. But more recent discussion centers on term limits for the judiciary, especially for the Supreme […]

No Picture

“Runaway Convention” Nonsense—One More Time

August 13, 2015 Rob Natelson 0

Seldom has a claim so weak been so often advanced than the claim that a convention for proposing amendments would be a “constitutional convention” that could “run away”—that is, disregard its limits and propose amendments outside its sphere of authority.
I have little patience with the theory, partly because it is so patently based on ignorance […]

No Picture

A Convention of States in “Gone With the Wind”

August 10, 2015 Rob Natelson 0

Margaret Mitchell, the author of the hugely popular novel Gone With the Wind, was a newspaper reporter and the child of a family steeped in history. Her father, a prominent Georgia attorney, was one of the leading lights in the state historical society.
That her book has a plethora of references to historical events occurring during […]

No Picture

Wisdom From A Framer on Federalism, Guns, and the Amendment Process

July 19, 2015 Rob Natelson 0

This article was first published on CNS News.
A newly published speech by one of our Framers offers important clues to the constitutional role of the states, of the right to keep and bear arms, and of the amendment process.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton represented Maryland at the Constitutional Convention. After the convention was over, he advocated […]

No Picture

The Necessary and Proper Clause Grants Congress No Power

June 1, 2015 Rob Natelson 0

In a recent post, I pointed out that, despite superficial appearances, the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause—clarifying that Congress has authority to make laws “necessary and proper” to carrying out its other enumerated powers—actually grants Congress no power.
The Necessary and Proper Clause is representative of one of four related kinds of provisions found in 18th […]