Article III, Section 2, Clause 1: Cases and controversies

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; –to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; –to all Cases of admiralty and maritime…continue reading →

Electing the President

In the last two posts, we examined the duties of the President and the powers granted to him to enable him to carry out his duties. We reflected on how these duties and powers have worked out in practice. We concluded that, while there are some structural changes to the…continue reading →

The future of the Presidency

In our last post, we summarized the duties and powers of the President as outlined in the Constitution. In this post, we consider how well the defined duties and powers have squared with historical experience. First: We find ourselves in agreement with the Framers on the necessity of a unitary…continue reading →

Recapping the executive branch

We have now completed our initial brief annotation of Article II of the Constitution, which establishes the executive branch with the President at its head. In this post, we will recapitulate our understanding of this branch before moving on to the judiciary. The experience of the Framers with monarchs left…continue reading →

Recapping the legislative branch

For the last year, we have been devoting the time we have to write about the Constitution to briefly annotating the text of the Constitution itself. We have now completed our annotation of Article I, which establishes the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. Our annotation…continue reading →

An Easter homily for Right and Left

Constitutionalist classical liberals have always been a varied lot in their approach to Christianity. Perhaps there are a few more agnostics in the tent nowadays, though militant atheists remain remarkably scarce. But whether Christian in every sense, or of the Jesus as wise human teacher school, we seem agreed on…continue reading →

Federalism versus state sovereignty

In our post on sovereignty, we took the position that, under the Constitutional order, there is no American sovereign. Voters have inalienable rights,  which may be broadly described as spheres of life into which intrusion by government is severely circumscribed. Rights are not quite absolute; your right to free exercise…continue reading →