The Constitution Study podcast

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419 - Is the Constitution a Threat to National Security 04/29/2024

419 - Is the Constitution a Threat to National Security A policy statement released by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget effectively made a very bold statement, that the Constitution of the United States was a threat to national security. Does this not remind you of the saying from Benjamin Franklin? “They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.” Benjamin Franklin Are the American people willing to give up their right to be free from unreasonable searches for the promise of national security? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/30876738

418 - A Case of Advice or State Intimidation? 04/22/2024

418 - A Case of Advice or State Intimidation? If there is a boogie man in the anti-gun community, it’s got to be the National Rifle Association. Accused of complicity in almost every gun crime from gang violence to mass murder, the NRA has become the lightning rod for the vitriol of those whose fear of firearms has grown to an irrational state. What happens though, when government actors advice others about the dangers of doing business with such a company? Is it merely warning of the dangers of sleeping with dogs, or an attempt to use their power to intimidate others into abandoning those they otherwise would do business with? The case of NRA v Vullo is just such a case? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/30802118

417 - Remembering the Battle of Lexington 04/15/2024

417 - Remembering the Battle of Lexington Listen, my children, and you shall hearOf the midnight ride of Paul Revere, Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Most of us who grew up here in America learned about the battles of Lexington and Concorde from this Longfellow poem. Who does not remember, "One if by land, and two if by sea;" or Paul Revere's cries of "The British are coming! The British are coming!"? Most of the stories we have heard are not true. Whether poetic license or outright propaganda has been lost to history. However, the story behind those battles is not only well worth the telling, but of great importance to anyone today who still claims the title American. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/30686893

416 - The Problems With The TikTok Bill 04/08/2024

416 - The Problems With The TikTok Bill I have a lot of issues with TikTok, and it’s one social media platform I refuse to use. However, when I look at how Congress plans to deal with this problem, I see even more. I’ve also read and listened to several commentators about the bill, and find even more problems with their suggestions. So what do We the People do when our representatives in Congress have a personal vendetta against a foreign company? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/30587638

415 - A Question of Choice 04/01/2024

415 - A Question of Choice The word “choice” has all but been taken over by the pro-abortion crowd, but that is not what I want to discuss here today. Recent history, both public and private, has displayed the fundamental function choice plays in a person’s independence, liberty, and freedom. Yet said history has shown that many of the American people have given up the ability to choose, placing that responsibility on others. By doing so, people have voluntarily abandoned their position as free citizens in order to become enslaved subjects to those who do the choosing for them. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/30504048

414 - Disarming The Militia Act 03/25/2024

414 - Disarming The Militia Act The gun grabbers in Congress are at it again. Attempts to disarm the American people have only been moderately successful over the past few years. So a bill was recently introduced in the House of Representatives entitled “Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act of 2024”. This bill wants to make it a crime for private citizens to work together to defend their rights. If this bill were to become law some day, even training together could not only get you fined, but placed in jail, possibly for life. Have these members of Congress forgotten that our war of independence was started by an attempt by the British governor of Massachusetts' attempt to disarm the people? That the the battles of Lexington and Concord were fought by private citizens who formed a militia? Or could it be that they just don’t care about our rights and the Constitution, and are just looking for another way to subjugate the American people? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/30484678

413 - How the 16th Amendment Destroyed the Republic 03/18/2024

413 - How the 16th Amendment Destroyed the Republic As April 15th approaches, and people spend valuable time and money on filing their income tax return. While plenty of people grouse and complain about paying income taxes, most don’t realize that the cause of their pain is the actions of the states back in 1913. When the states ratified the Sixteenth Amendment they did more than just help the feds collect income taxes, they fundamentally changed the republic for the worse. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/30380193

412 - Sovereign Immunity 03/11/2024

412 - Sovereign Immunity When can you sue the government? What started out as an erroneous credit report filing has turned into the heart of the question brought before the Supreme Court in the case Department Of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Housing Service V. Kirtz (USDA v. Kirtz). However, what the court found, and how it got there, points to a serious flaw in the constitutional education of lawyers and judges throughout this nation. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/30193568

411 - Electing a U.S. President 03/04/2024

411 - Electing a U.S. President Every four years, the United States goes through the ritual of electing a President. I use the term ritual for two reasons. First, most Americans' understanding of the election process is based in custom or rites rather than the law. Second, most of the customs Americans follow directly contradict the actual process of electing a President of the United States. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/30191368

410 - Is Refusing to Wear a Mask Unconstitutional? 02/26/2024

410 - Is Refusing to Wear a Mask Unconstitutional? I've spoken repeatedly about the unconstitutionality of most mask mandates. Recently, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals was asked to review two cases where people were punished for attending school board meetings while refusing to wear masks. Sadly, the cases, as described in the Circuit Court opinion, seem poorly founded, thus leading to decisions against the plaintiffs. I think a closer look will not only show the flaws in the case, but help others build better ones in the future. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29998543

409 - Abuse of the No Fly List 02/19/2024

409 - Abuse of the No Fly List while looking through recent oral arguments at the Supreme Court, I stumbled across the case FBI v. Fikre. At first, I thought it was another simple procedural case, but something about it caught my attention. The oral arguments held before the Supreme Court were about whether Mr. Fikre's case that his rights were violated when he was placed on the No Fly List was no moot because he ad been removed from the list. As I stated looking deeper into the case though, I found intrigue worthing of a Grisham novel. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29862183

408 - Primaries, What Are They Good For? 02/12/2024

408 - Primaries, What Are They Good For? I propose that all board elections for non-profit corporations should be run by the state at taxpayer expense. After all, we already have taxpayer funded elections for private organizations. We call them “Primaries”. While this year's presidential primary is pretty much a fait accompli, there are still hundreds, if not thousands of primary elections that will be held over the next few months. In some cases the race is so partisan that the primary effectively decides the race and the general election is moot. What is the purpose of these taxpayer funded private elections? Why to limit your choices on election day of course. So why do we keep paying for someone else to take away our choices? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29776713

407 - Chevron Deference 02/05/2024

407 - Chevron Deference For decades, Congress has been turning over more and more lawmaking power to the Executive Branch. Frequently this is done by legislation giving the head of some agency or department the power to establish rules which have the force of law. What happens when the legislation doesn't explicitly say that such-and-such department has the power to make a certain rule? To deal with this, courts have come up with something called "Chevron Deference". While the case Loper Bright Enterprises, v Gina Raimondo, Secretary Of Commerce deals with who pays the salaries of federal observers on fishing boards, a more fundamental questioning of the court's deference to government agencies interpretation of law is the cornerstone of the petitioner's arguments. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29652753

406 - Regulating Your Life 01/29/2024

406 - Regulating Your Life Have you noticed how often the government of the United States decides how you should live your life? It seems everything from food and drugs to the lightbulbs in your home are regulated by Uncle Sam. And whenever some bureaucrat deems it necessary, they simply roll out another "rule" or "regulation" to clamp down on the American people. It seems though, that one of those agencies may have bitten off more than they could chew, at least according to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the case Louisiana, et. al. v. U.S. Department of Energy the court decided that one of the DOE's rules was illegal, but was it unconstitutional? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29573438

405 - The Real Insurrection in America 01/22/2024

405 - The Real Insurrection in America Although I've talked about the recent attempts to keep Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot on the radio program, I realized I haven't taken the time to do an in-depth article here. I apologize for taking so long to broach this extremely important topic in this venue. Unless you've been hiding from everything politics in the United States, you are aware that there are actors in several states that have sued in their state courts to disqualify Donald Trump from being on their states primary election ballot for President of the United States. As of this writing, in only two states, Colorado and Maine, have those actors found some measure of success. While this case will undoubtably find its way to the Supreme Court, this truly is a state issue, even though it has national importance. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29532943

404 - Lawsuits for Revenge and Profit? 01/15/2024

404 - Lawsuits for Revenge and Profit? One of the most common ways for an American to seek a redress for some grievance is to file a law suit. This has made the United States a very litigious society. I was not able to determine the number of lawsuits filed, but in 2023 there were more attorneys in the United States (1.33 million) than doctors (1.08 million). As you might imagine, it is unlikely that all of these lawsuits are legitimate. Take for examples the case of Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer. In this case, Acheson Hotels claims that Deborah Laufer filed a lawsuit against them not because she was harmed by their hotel, but because she is an activist using the Americans with Disability Act to harass companies who do not advertise whether or not they have handicapped accessible rooms. While the Supreme Court found that the case was moot, both the facts of the case and the courts decision points to what appears to be a case of Ms. Laufer using lawsuits for both revenge and profit. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29461948

403 - What is Income? 01/08/2024

403 - What is Income? There are certain words that are so commonly used we think they have a universal understanding. One of those words is "income". Think about it, what is income? Your paycheck? Dividends on your investments? Profits from your business? When does an increase on the value of something you own become "income"? The answer to that question is important to more than just the parties in the case Moore v. United States, but to just about every American. Can the United States tax you, as income, for the value of something you have not sold yet? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29329358

402 - New Years 01/01/2024

402 - New Years I don't "do" New Years Resolutions. To me, they're one step above a campaign promise. (At least you intend to keep your resolutions.) That said, the beginning of a new year is a good time to consider your future. What plans do you have for the new year? While I do not make New Years Resolutions, if you do, here are a few ideas I think you should consider. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29157923

401 - A Christmas Wish 12/25/2023

401 - A Christmas Wish Thankfully, I have not seen the level of controversy over name "Christmas" this year that I've seen in years past. Whether or not you celebrate the holiday, 5 USC §6103 lists December 25th as the holiday "Christmas Day", which is why government offices are shutdown today. Since I do celebrate the holiday, I decided to take a few minutes, and consider a few some Christmas wishes I have for you, this country, and The Constitution Study. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29108508

400 - Washington’s Farewell Address - Part 2 12/18/2023

400 - Washington’s Farewell Address - Part 2 As he prepared to leave office, President George Washington gave to us a Farewell Address. Friends and Citizens: The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. Washington's Farewell Address 1796 As our thoughts are employed in the designation of the person who is to be clothed with the trust of administering the executive branch of the government of the United States, I think we should look back at the advice and warnings from the first occupant of that office. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/29029068

399 - Washington’s Farewell Address - Part 1 12/11/2023

399 - Washington’s Farewell Address - Part 1 As he prepared to leave office, President George Washington gave to us a Farewell Address. Friends and Citizens: The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. Washington's Farewell Address 1796 As our thoughts are employed in the designation of the person who is to be clothed with the trust of administering the executive branch of the government of the United States, I think we should look back at the advice and warnings from the first occupant of that office. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/28994953

398 - Will America be Destroyed From the Inside? 12/04/2023

398 - Will America be Destroyed From the Inside? In 1837, Daniel Webster wrote: "I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe... Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger." I’ve been thinking about that statement lately. I came across a video that I had forgotten about. It’s part of an interview with Soviet defector Yuri Bezmanov. Mr Bezmanov was a former KGB agent who defected to Canada in 1970. Then, in 1984, he gave an interview to G Edward Griffin where he exposed a long-term Soviet plan to defeat America not by force of arms, but through psychological warfare. You may be asking, what does a late 20th century defector have to do with a 19th century lawyer and statesman, and how could it possibly be relevant to our situation in the 2020s? Come to find out, both of these men were quite prescient in their warnings to the American people. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/28872698

397 – Truth Under Attack 11/27/2023

397 – Truth Under Attack There have always been attacks on what is true. From the serpent in the Garden of Eden asking "Did God really say..." to today's attempts to quash "disinformation", truth has been under attack. While many of these attacks have been about what the truth is, over the past couple of generations, the idea of truth itself has been under attack. Why is that so? In the Gospel of John, Jesus said: And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32 (NKJV) Could the answer be that simple? Could the attacks on the very idea of truth simply be attacks on our freedom? If that is true, then what can we do to defend not only our freedom, but the very idea of freedom itself? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/28788243

396 - Hard Cases Make Bad Precedent 11/20/2023

396 - Hard Cases Make Bad Precedent There is an adage in the legal profession, “Hard cases make bad law.” Well, since cases in this country to not truly make law only precedent, you might be tempted to dismiss this saying. However, since our courts are so devoted to their precedent, we should be very careful when hard cases come to the Supreme Court. For example, one case heard by the court has a very unsavory respondent. The question is, will Mr. Zackey Rahimi’s shady past be used to infringe on the right of the rest of Americans? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/28693063

395 - Social Media and Government Communications 11/13/2023

395 - Social Media and Government Communications Social media has become so much of everyday lives that we often don’t think about its use. This has led to what appears to be a large percentage of Americans developing what can at best be described as “interesting ideas” about the relationship between government and the various social media platforms. Some recent cases heard before the Supreme Court bring the question of the relationship between government actors and social media companies into question. Probably the best well known would be Missouri v. Biden, where the states of Missouri and Louisiana have brought suit claiming that members of the Biden Administration violated the First Amendment by attempting to influence what content would be deleted or deemphasized on various platforms. However, two other cases involving local officials focus on under what circumstances government actors can block access to their social media accounts. While most of the country seems to be focused on Missouri, these two cases bring up some questions the American people should really think about. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/28560812

394 - Placing Politics Above Children? 11/06/2023

394 - Placing Politics Above Children? Studies show that the best outcomes for children is to live in a home with their married parents. If the world were perfect, then all children would have that chance. But the world isn't perfect, and either by accident or as the consequences of the actions of adults, children will be in need of people to step in for their parents. In our modern society, the role of finding homes for these children has been filled by the state government. What happens when those government entities place politics above the needs of their charges? A recent case in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts deals with that very topic. Plaintiffs Michael and Catherine Burke claim that the State of Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) discriminated against them in their application to become foster parents for religious reasons. When I looked at the case what I saw wasn't so much religious discrimination, but DCF placing political viewpoints above not only the Constitution of Massachusetts, but what is best for the children in their care. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/28489694

393 - Public Recording 10/30/2023

393 - Public Recording Do you have a right to record people in public? A recent case out of Oregon asked that very question, can states restrict who and when people can record the conversations in public. Oregon law prohibiting recording public conversation except in certain limited circumstances was challenged by Project Veritas. As is so often the case, both the legal challenges and judicial opinion make some questionable constitutional claims. This is why we’re going to look at the opinion of the Ninth Circuit Court Panel and decide for ourselves, does recording the public conversations of others violate the law or does the law violate the Constitution? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/28434659

392 - Your Right to Remain Silent 10/23/2023

392 - Your Right to Remain Silent You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law... Miranda Warning If you've ever been taken into custody, or simply watched a crime procedural on TV, you're familiar with the Miranda warning, named after the 1966 Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona. However, if you're getting your legal advice from television, you may find yourself in serious legal trouble. Where does this right to remain silent come from, how is it protected, and just how constitutional is the Miranda decision? /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/28359998

391 - Primary Control 10/16/2023

391 - Primary Control As I write this, the United States is deep into the primary season for the 2024 Presidential Election. There is more than enough news, polls, allegations, recriminations, and influence peddling bombarding the American people, and will continue to do so, probably until the middle of next year. While most Americans have an idea of how the primary system works, it is usually superficial, incomplete, and ignores the fundamental purpose of election primaries, control of the election process. /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/28301810

390 - Civil Asset Forfeiture, Policing for Profit 10/09/2023

390 - Civil Asset Forfeiture, Policing for Profit The more things change, the more they stay the same. Several years ago I wrote an article about the Battle of Athens, TN. In the article I showed the corruption in McMinn County Sheriff’s Department, where the Sheriff and his deputies did not receive a salary, but were paid for everyone they booked, incarcerated, and released. This perverse incentive let to deputies routinely boarding buses to “fine” and jail the passengers for any alleged violations they could come up with. When subject to this corruption, many GIs returning from World War II were led to challenge the corrupt county Sheriff and other office holders. This challenge led not only to an embattled election, but an armed uprising in an attempt to restore the rule of law. If you don’t find this story of corruption compelling, consider this. The same basic system of corruption in the McMinn County Sheriff’s Department exists across the country. While the McMinn County process did not have a name, the 21st century version does, Civil Asset Forfeiture! /episode/index/show/constitutionstudy/id/28238780

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