512 - Free Speech Reprieve in Hawaii
The Constitution Study podcast
The Hawaiian legislature passed Act 191 in an attempt to prohibit “materially deceptive media” that would harm the “reputation or electoral prospects of a candidate in an election”. This seems like an infringement on free speech. Thankfully the District Court for the District of Hawaii agreed.
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511 - Private Property vs Gun Control
The Constitution Study podcast
How far can a state go to regulate the right to bear arms? Can a state override a person’s property rights? Can Hawaii proactively prohibit lawful gun owners from carrying on private property without owners prior consent? That is the question in the Supreme Court case Wolford v. Lopez.
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510 - When Governments Replace Parents
The Constitution Study podcast
We've all heard of the Nanny State, when government stops representing the people and tries to parent them. While there have been many attempts over the years for states to take over the parenting role of children, all with good intentions of course. However they never seem to learn that when the state tries to act as the parent, they not only fail, but often abuse the very children they claim to protect.
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509 - Congressional Subpoenas
The Constitution Study podcast
In a recent press release, the House Oversight Committee voted to advance two resolutions to hold “President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with duly issued subpoenas.” The question is, were those subpoenas lawful?
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508 - Men in Women's Sports - Oral Arguments
The Constitution Study podcast
Two cases came before the Supreme Court for oral arguments asking the same basic question. Can states prohibit men from participating in women’s sports?
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507 - Constitutional Carry, but...
The Constitution Study podcast
More than half of the states in the union allow constitutional carry, the right to carry a firearm without a permit or license. While Tennessee claims to have constitutional carry, their constitution places a but in that. A recent case in Tennessee Chancery Court asks whether two laws restricting someone's ability to bear arms is constitutional or not.
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506 - Copyright Shakedown
The Constitution Study podcast
Copyrights and patents are important protections for inventors, authors, and all sorts of creators. In the case Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment, I'm reminded of the response Willie Sutton gave when asked why he robbed banks. "Because that's where the money is." Because this case seems more like a copyright shakedown than the protection of copyrights.
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505 - Unreasonable Searches
The Constitution Study podcast
When a government agency searches without a reason it’s called “fishing”. When the the Attorney General of New Jersey issued a subpoena demanding the names, addresses, and phone numbers of their donors, that wasn’t just fishing, it was searching for a white whale.
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504 - Presidential Power to Fire
The Constitution Study podcast
I’ve talked before about the unitary executive. However, a recent case before the Supreme Court brings into question not only whether or not the President has the power to fire employees in the executive branch, but the very structure of the federal government.
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503 - Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity
The Constitution Study podcast
Concealed carry reciprocity is frequently a hot-button issue both in the Second Amendment community and those who oppose it. Once again Congress is attempting to resolve the issue via legislation, and The National Fraternal Order of Police is opposing it. Let's look at both sides of this story.
info_outlineWhen I hear people talk about freedom, there seem to be two different general ideas, freedom from something and freedom to do something. It reminds me of my days in Information Technology, when people described "free" open source software as "Free speech, not free beer!" When we talk about freedom today, are we talking about free speech or free beer?