Grasping the nettle

We have personally witnessed conversations that went something like: "Washington needs to do something about <X>." "The Constitution doesn't give Washington the power to do anything about <X>." "The Constitution was written by a bunch of white slave-owning men, so I really don't much care what the Constitution says." It…continue reading →

The perils of simple government

In an earlier post discussing the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, and in connection with the concept of the rule of law, we quoted John Adams: Remember Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes exhausts and murders itself. There never was a Democracy Yet, that did not…continue reading →

Who is America’s sovereign?

One sometimes hears it said that, in America, every citizen is sovereign. The opposite is nearer the truth: In America, no one is sovereign. This is vital to the American understanding of rule of law. The word sovereign has more than one meaning, and is applied both as noun and as…continue reading →

Novus ordo seclorum

As we have discussed in previous posts, the Framers were brilliant men who had deeply studied the lessons of history, and they sought to establish a Constitutional order fit for the realities of human nature as seen in the light of experience. Nevertheless, they knew they were doing a new…continue reading →

The world view of the Founders

In our last post, we discussed the Constitution as an extraordinary intellectual achievement by men of extraordinary ability, who had deeply steeped themselves in the lessons of history.  Those lessons were debated, sometimes heatedly, both in the Convention itself and in the ratification debate which followed. It was from the…continue reading →

A work of genius

In the previous post, where we discussed the Constitution as law, we of necessity also discussed the basis for its legitimacy. We asserted that its ratification by the legislatures representing the people of the original States made it binding on those States and their people.  The people and territorial legislatures…continue reading →

The supreme law of the land

The Constitution declares itself to be "the supreme Law of the Land" (Supremacy Clause).  If we are to take this declaration seriously, we must first take seriously the concept of the rule of law; understand what "law of the land" (lex terrae) means, particularly when modified as supreme; and understand the…continue reading →

Taking the U.S. Constitution seriously

Our whole system is set up to keep the government from becoming the State. --Jonah Goldberg   What does it mean to take the U.S. Constitution seriously? In the first place, it means taking the U.S. Constitution seriously as law.  The Constitution declares itself the supreme law of the land,…continue reading →

Article III. The Judiciary

Article III defines the federal judiciary, Alexander Hamilton's "least dangerous branch" (Federalist 78). We agree with that characterization, but with the rueful observation that this is largely a matter of degree. At times, the federal judiciary has proven to be a powerful guarantor of American rights and of the constitutional…continue reading →