The Federalist Blog

14th amendment

Supreme Absurdity: Scott v. Harris
ByP.A. Madison February 27, 2007July 21, 2011

Updated 3/1/07 Just when I thought I had seen and heard it all, comes the case Scott v. Harris. The case involves Coweta County Deputy Sheriff Timothy Scott’s decision in 2001 to end a wild, high-speed chase over dark and wet Georgia highways by finally ramming the back of Victor Harris’ Cadillac, sending him down an embankment and flipping his car. Harris, then 19, was left a quadriplegic and has sued, claiming it was a violation of his constitutional rights for Scott…

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14th amendment | 1st amendment | Religion

Supreme Ignorance: ACLU’s Empty Establishment Claims
ByP.A. Madison February 10, 2007May 22, 2012
9 Comments

The American Civil Liberties Union again is suing under the twisted rational the Fourteenth Amendment somehow disables local government from displaying anything remotely religious in nature. The latest victim targeted by the ACLU is the rural Florida county of Dixie, which has a Ten Commandments monument at the steps of its courthouse. The lawsuit says the monument violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments because it is not part of a historical display and because the uniquely Christian message of the Ten Commandments…

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Uncategorized

Would CA Driver Licenses to Illegal Aliens be Valid in Another State?
ByP.A. Madison January 29, 2007
2 Comments

Q: Gil Cedillo, a California legislator has introduced a bill to authorize the issue of driver’s licenses not compliant with the federal Real ID Act. They are intended for illegal aliens. My question is will other states be required to accept these as valid under the Full Faith and Credit clause, since they are meant to subvert the intent of federal law? A: If Calif. issues only special temporary licenses to illegal aliens to operate on Calif. highways only, then no. If…

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Uncategorized

Supreme Court Makes Right Decision not to Hear Eminent Domain Case
ByP.A. Madison January 18, 2007

The Supreme Court today announced that it would not consider an appeal over a Village of Port Chester, N.Y, in case involving all the hallmarks of extortion for money and property by a private developer and city. The most shocking thing about this case is not the fact the US Supreme Court refused to intervene, but the fact local government has refused to protect property owners from shady city officials abusing their power over eminent domain. No one should ever be at…

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citizenship

Was U.S. vs. Wong Kim Ark Wrongly Decided?
ByP.A. Madison December 10, 2006June 14, 2013
52 Comments

In reading the majorities opinion in Wong Kim Ark, one cannot help but wonder why so much emphasis is being placed on such obscure and irrelevant historical overviews as colonial and foreign law. With two previous court decisions, a United States Attorney General Opinion over the meaning of the Fourteenth’s citizenship clause, and law previously made over alien citizenship via birth, leaves one to wonder what is going on here? Deeper into the decision, Justice Horace Gray (writing for the majority) reveals…

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General Welfare

What James Madison Might Well Tell Congress Today
ByP.A. Madison August 9, 2006September 1, 2011
7 Comments

James Madison Jr., House of Representatives, February 1792: I, sir, have always conceived–I believe those who proposed the Constitution conceived, and it is still more fully known, and more material to observe that those who ratified the Constitution conceived–that this is not an indefinite Government, deriving its power from the general terms prefixed to the specified powers, but a limited Government tied down to the specified powers which explain and define the general terms. The gentlemen who contend for a contrary doctrine…

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voting rights

Revisiting the Fifteenth Amendment
ByP.A. Madison July 30, 2006July 20, 2013
5 Comments

Summary: The Fifteenth Amendments sole purpose was to remove “white” from former rebel State statutes so black citizens could have equal footing as whites in voter qualification laws. This had no effect on stringent State voter laws that could easily disqualify most blacks on conditions other than race because there was no likelihood such an amendment would be ratified by more than 3 States. Today when one speaks of the Fifteenth Amendment they usually do under the belief the Amendment provides an…

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immigration

The US Constitution Only Delegates the Power Over Immigration or Asylum to the States
ByP.A. Madison July 28, 2006August 19, 2017
50 Comments

Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall on behalf of herself and several other county attorneys and sheriffs, recently said a Arizona proposed immigration provision is an unconstitutional intrusion by the state into immigration policies, which are solely the purview of the Federal Government. This struck me kind of odd because in order to come under the purview of the Federal Government the authority must be found delegated or, incidental to a delegated power granted to Congress under the US Constitution. There is a…

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Uncategorized

Q: Do illegal-aliens count as ‘persons’ under the 14th amendment’s apportionment of representatives?
ByP.A. Madison March 24, 2006October 24, 2011
8 Comments

This is an interesting recurring question I get every once in a while and, unfortunately, been too occupied to answer. There has been talk to change “persons” under section 2 of the 14th amendment to read “citizens.” Michigan Republican Rep. Candice Miller introduced a constitutional amendment last year that would change the 14th amendment to allow only “citizens” to be counted instead of “persons.” The section in question reads as follows: Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their…

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