Lawsuit Questions Constitutionality of Excepted Employees Faced with Shutdown
A lawsuit filed by NTEU takes fault with section 1342 of the Antideficiency Act, which OMB used to require federal employees to report to work without pay.
Posts Tagged: constitution
State of the Union Address 2014: Myths and Facts
What You’ll See is Tradition, Not Law Every year, the president delivers his State of the Union address to a special joint session of Congress. President Obama will do so Tuesday night, January 28, at 9:00 PM. The usual fanfare will accompany the event. Maybe there will some surprises too. The U.S. Constitution divides ourRead… Read more »
Certainty
A popular quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin is: Nothing is certain but death and taxes. True – however, the timing of one and the amount of the other are not certain. Leaders face certainty and uncertainty when painting their vision – e.g., revenue must cover expenses for an organization to be viable, but the timingRead… Read more »
Read the Declaration of Independence
An Act of Treason; Not a Law The Declaration of Independence was more a process than a moment in history. This act of treason against an empire sparked the Revolutionary War and, eventually, the United States of America. It is not, and has never been, a law, but it is worth reading. This week, AmericansRead… Read more »
Activist Supreme Court Judges Created Their Own Power
The Constitution Does Not Authorize Judicial Review Our teachers are wrong. The Constitution does not empower the Court to interpret the Constitution. The founders didn’t give that power to anyone. The Court decided that for itself. In 1803, six activist Supreme Court justices claimed for themselves the power of Judicial Review. It does not appearRead… Read more »
“No Such Thing as a Federal Election”
Several years ago in an interview with the original Commissioners of the US Election Assistance Commission, I made the assertion that there is no such thing as a “federal election.” After a few moments of stunned silence, Buster Soares, the Chair of the Commission, asked me to explain what I meant- which I did. LaterRead… Read more »
“They” are the problem, “it’s them,” am I right?
“We the People …” is perhaps the most powerful opening clause ever uttered on this planet. Yet how many of “We,” really take to heart what those three words mean on a personal level? When it comes to the state of civic participation in the United States today, to paraphrase Jimmy Buffett perhaps, “We areRead… Read more »
We the People vs the Original One Percent
“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal,” but what happens thereafter is subject to circumstance. When it comes to the concept of the “One Percent,” which emerged in the collective consciousness out of the Occupy Movement, perhaps for the words “all men” and “equal” are nuanced terms. In theRead… Read more »
Secession, the U.S. Constitution, and the Consequences
It’s Not What You Think Since last weekend, the internet has been aflutter with news that many states have petitioned the White House for permission to secede from the union. No state has officially done any such thing. This is what’s going on. To date, there are forty-eight petitions asking President Obama to approve theRead… Read more »
Quiz: Are you smarter than an 8th grade Civics student?
Can you correctly answer these three questions about our American government and nation from the 100-question naturalization test for new citizens? Most 8th and 12th graders in the U.S. could not! Read more in my new GPO Government Book Talk blog post called Quiz: Are you smarter than an 8th grade Civics student? in honorRead… Read more »