Keeping Faith with the Constitution

Keeping Faith with the Constitution
Author: Goodwin Liu
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2010-08-05
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199752834

Chief Justice John Marshall argued that a constitution "requires that only its great outlines should be marked [and] its important objects designated." Ours is "intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs." In recent years, Marshall's great truths have been challenged by proponents of originalism and strict construction. Such legal thinkers as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia argue that the Constitution must be construed and applied as it was when the Framers wrote it. In Keeping Faith with the Constitution, three legal authorities make the case for Marshall's vision. They describe their approach as "constitutional fidelity"--not to how the Framers would have applied the Constitution, but to the text and principles of the Constitution itself. The original understanding of the text is one source of interpretation, but not the only one; to preserve the meaning and authority of the document, to keep it vital, applications of the Constitution must be shaped by precedent, historical experience, practical consequence, and societal change. The authors range across the history of constitutional interpretation to show how this approach has been the source of our greatest advances, from Brown v. Board of Education to the New Deal, from the Miranda decision to the expansion of women's rights. They delve into the complexities of voting rights, the malapportionment of legislative districts, speech freedoms, civil liberties and the War on Terror, and the evolution of checks and balances. The Constitution's framers could never have imagined DNA, global warming, or even women's equality. Yet these and many more realities shape our lives and outlook. Our Constitution will remain vital into our changing future, the authors write, if judges remain true to this rich tradition of adaptation and fidelity.

Blueprint

Blueprint
Author: Ken Blackwell
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2010-04-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0762763124

Barack Obama's shocking plan to take over the government, the elections, the economy, the American consciousness, and even our personal freedoms From noted conservative leader Ken Blackwell and Washington, D.C.-based constitutional attorney and journalist Ken Klukowski comes an urgently needed book about President Barack Obama's blueprint to centralize power in the White House, subvert the Constitution, and transform the United States of America into a militant, secular welfare state dominated by an overbearing central government. The authors identify and discuss more than twenty tactics being taken by the Obama administration to restructure the country and ensure perpetual liberal rule—such as changing voting laws, politicizing the census, coercing corporations into adopting its policies, planning to destroy talk radio, and seeking to make millions of illegal aliens into voting citizens. By means both sharp and subtle, President Obama aims to change Americans' views about government, liberty, and even God. * · Czars: The authors show how Obama is installing a shadow government of radical appointees not subject to Senate confirmation and answerable to no one but him. · Courts: The authors have insider knowledge of how Obama will pack the Supreme Court and lower courts with activist judges who will overstep their constitutional authority. · When Lawmaking becomes Lawbreaking: The authors reveal the ways Obama is consolidating lawmaking power in the White House, in direct violation of our nation's separation of powers. · Changing the American Identity: The authors show how Obama is using unconstitutional tactics to change how we conduct commerce, how we vote, our right to bear arms, and the free-speech rights of opposition voices.