incorporation

14th amendment | constitution | incorporation

Was ACORN the Victim of a Bill of Attainder?
ByP.A. Madison March 9, 2010
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This may be old news by now, but I wanted to add a few remarks regarding the Association of Community Organizations (ACORN) argument that a House resolution amounted to a “bill of attainder” that resulted in a cut off federal grant money to the group. Judge Nina Gershon agreed, writing, “They [ACORN] have been singled out by Congress for punishment that directly and immediately affects their ability to continue to obtain federal funding, in the absence of any judicial, or even administrative,…

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14th amendment | 1st amendment | incorporation

What the Court & Everyone Misses in Citizens United v. FEC
ByP.A. Madison February 12, 2010May 31, 2012
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The Supreme Court recently held in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission that corporations had a First Amendment right to spend money to support or oppose political candidates. The Court struck down federal laws regulating independent political advertising by for-profit and non-profit corporations before an election even as they reaffirmed rules about disclosure and disclosures for ads and against direct corporate giving to candidates. The court assumed if a corporation could not engage in political speech then neither could major media outlets…

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14th amendment | incorporation

Alan Gura’s brief in McDonald v. City of Chicago
ByP.A. Madison January 27, 2010July 21, 2011
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Like many pro constitutional gun ownership activists, Alan Gura’s brief for the petitioners in McDonald v. City of Chicago attempts to cast doubt on Slaughterhouse precedent that says the Fourteenth Amendment was not intended “as a protection to the citizen of a State against the legislative power of his own State.” He wants to convince the court that their privileges or immunities doctrine is profoundly erroneous. However, did Slaughterhouse really get it wrong? The written evidence strongly suggests that in fact Slaughterhouse…

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