Constitutional Rules
IS OUR CONSTITUTION A "LIVING" DOCUMENT?
Americans are hugely proud of and greatly revere their Constitution, and so does the rest of the world stand in awe at the economic and political might of the United States in adherence to its Constitution. Founding Fathers poured out their highest and best during the Constitutional Convention held in 1787 in fashioning a most precious document (Patton 2000) that would define and establish the role of government. The standards set were high. George Washington said "Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the event is in the Hand of God (qtd in Patton p 1)." The Preamble ordained and established a government "to promote the general welfare" and "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. (Patton)"
That liberty meant economic freedom or a free-market economy. This free-market economy would in turn be basically dependent on political and moral freedoms (Patton). This means that American society is free only as long as the principles of constitutional government and the precepts of God are genuinely lived, i.e., in the mind and in the heart and seen in action. There is economic freedom only if the government does not become tyrannical and solid values are authentically observed. And there is political freedom when the powers of government are strictly limited and specified (Patton) in order to avoid or prevent dictatorship.
In Article I, Section 8, Founding Fathers clearly enumerated the functions of the Federal government: 1) lay and collect taxes for the payment of debts and for common defense and the general welfare of the nation; 2) borrow money on the credit of the United States; 3) regulate commerce; 4) establish rules for citizenship; 5) establish bankruptcy laws; 6) coin and regulate the value of money; 7) standardize weights and measures; 8) punish counterfeiting of...
Constitutional Rights of Prisoners The hands off doctrine that existed throughout the United States through the 1960s was the notion that the law did not apply to prisoners. It Convicted offenders, who were incarcerated, were not eligible for the same rights that applied to liberated U.S. citizens. The doctrine mandated that prisoners had forfeited those rights when they were convicted of whatever crime they committed. This doctrine made it impossible for
Constitutional Law Debate: The Legislative Branch The Legislative Branch of government is the most powerful for many reasons. Of course, there would be people who would argue against that and state that other branches are more powerful because of specific powers that those branches possess. Despite that argument, the Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government clearly has more power because of the types of decisions that have been entrusted to them.
Kennedy referred to international as well as domestic standards in defense of the court's majority opinion. He wrote: "Our determination that the death penalty is disproportionate punishment for offenders under eighteen finds confirmation in the stark reality that the United States is the only country in the world that continues to give official sanction to the juvenile death penalty. This reality does not become controlling, for the task of
" (Redish and Phillips, 1979) the relationship is not as clear between the standard and balancing test that the court used in the Hanna and Byrd case. (Redish and Phillips, 1979; paraphrased) Burbank (1934) states in the "Rules Enabling Act of 1934" published in May 1982 in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review " that unless one is a cynic, it would leave one to wonder "that the original Federal Rules
Nelson -- the decision in which was binding on all lower courts -- was decided in favor of the state law in Minnesota banning same-sex marriages (UMT 2010). Conclusion The issue of the rights of gay, lesbian, and transgendered people are still in a state f flux and some confusion, based on the Supreme Court's rulings on the various matters. On the one hand, there is a legal mandate in place
The prima facie evidence provision in this statute blurs the line between these two meanings of a burning cross. As interpreted by the jury instruction, the provision chills constitutionally protected political speech because of the possibility that a State will prosecute -- and potentially convict -- somebody engaging only in lawful political speech at the core of what the First Amendment is designed to protect. Id. At 556. In his
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