To restore and uphold the sovereignty and rights of the individual States as guaranteed by the tenth amendment of the United States Constitution, which states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Well folks here we go, get ready to lose your 2nd ammendment rights!
As Obama and Romney express shock and sorrow over the bloodshed at a Colorado movie theater, neither suggested that tougher gun control could make a difference but you know its only a matter of time before the debate heads down that road....
For one we have the mayor of New York already goating the presidential candidates toward that discussion, as if were the mayor of these united states or if like the election goes thru him or needs his blessings. Forget about how crappy a job that obama has done in his term as president, that jobs are nowhere to be found, that his administration has single handedly attacked everything we find sacred about our country and The Constitution.....
no, the real problem is that we need to take the guns out of the hands of law abiding
citizens because of one psycho on a killing rampage.
Now you and I know this was the only excuse that these godlike polititions needed to attack 2nd ammendment rights....they have been trying to impose on our rights for years. The latest attack being that misguilded program Fast and Furious......where obama tried to backdoor the american people to make them look like common crimminals like we were suppling all the bad guys with guns.
But back to Obama, and Romney:
OBAMA
1997-2004: As an Illinois state senator, Obama supports banning all forms of semiautomatic weapons and tighter state restrictions generally on firearms, including a failed effort to limit handgun purchases to one per month.
2005: In the U.S. Senate, Obama votes against protecting firearms makers and dealers from lawsuits over misuse of their products by others. The bill is signed into law by President George W. Bush.
2008: During his first presidential campaign, Obama supports a return to the federal ban on assault weapons, which began during the Clinton administration and expired under Bush. He also endorses requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows. The National Rifle Association attacks him as an anti-gun zealot — a stand the group continues to take today.
April 2008: Obama is criticized for elitism after sounding dismissive of gun owners in a talk to campaign donors. He said voters in struggling small towns in Middle America "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" to explain their frustrations.
September 2008: Obama seeks to reassure gun owners: "I believe in people's lawful right to bear arms. ... There are some common-sense gun safety laws that I believe in. But I am not going to take your guns away." Nonetheless, gun sales go up when Obama wins, apparently because of fear that new restrictions are imminent under his administration.
2009: As president, Obama signs a law allowing people to carry concealed weapons in the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and other national parks and wildlife refuges and another that lets people carry guns in their checked bags on Amtrak trains.
2010: The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence gives Obama a grade of "F'' for failing to push even the gun restrictions he supported while campaigning.
2011: Obama says the shooting that severely wounded then-Rep. Gabriel Giffords, D-Ariz., and killed six people should lead to "a new discussion of how we can keep America safe for all our people." He calls for "sound and effective steps" to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, including strengthening background checks on gun buyers. But he's short on specifics, and the Obama administration hasn't proposed any new gun initiatives since then.
March 2012: Obama calls the fatal shooting of black teenager Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida "a tragedy," saying Americans should do some soul-searching and "examine the laws" to figure out why it happened. He hasn't called for any legal changes in response to the case, which mostly brought attention to some states' "stand your ground" laws making it easier for a shooter to claim self-defense. Indeed, most gun regulations are imposed by states. The primary federal law is the Brady law requiring background checks on firearms purchasers.
July 20: Obama says he's heartbroken by the Aurora, Colo., movie theater massacre and calls for Americans to unite in prayer for the victims: "If there's anything to take away from this tragedy it's the reminder that life is very fragile, our time here is limited and it is precious."
Asked whether the mass shooting should prompt a new review of gun laws, White House spokesman Jay Carney declines to comment beyond reiterating Obama's existing stance in support of "common-sense measures that protect Second Amendment rights of Americans, while ensuring that those who should not have guns under existing law do not get them."
ROMNEY
1994: In his unsuccessful challenge to liberal Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Romney sounds moderate on guns, supporting an assault weapons ban and insisting, "I don't line up with the NRA."
2002: Running for governor of Massachusetts, Romney says he supports and will protect the state's "tough gun laws." The NRA gives his Democratic opponent a higher rating on gun-rights issues and makes no endorsement in the race.
2003: As governor, Romney upsets gun owners by signing a law that quadruples the state's gun-licensing fee — from $25 to $100 — as part of a widespread effort to eliminate the budget deficit.
2004: Romney signs a Massachusetts ban on assault weapons. He mollifies many gun rights advocates by coupling it with looser rules on gun licenses and an extension of the duration of licenses, reducing the effect of the earlier fee increase.
2005: Declares May 7 as "Right to Bear Arms Day" in Massachusetts.
2006: As he prepares for his first presidential run, Romney becomes a lifetime NRA member.
2007: While campaigning, Romney declares he sometimes hunts "small varmints" — a comment ridiculed by some as an awkward attempt to pander to pro-gun voters.
2008: In a Republican primary debate, Romney says he would have signed the federal assault weapons ban if it came to his desk as president, but he opposes any new gun legislation.
2011: Making his second presidential bid, Romney's campaigns on a promise to protect and promote the Second Amendment.
2012: Romney tells gun owners that Obama wants to erode their rights. "We need a president who will enforce current laws, not create new ones that only serve to burden lawful gun owners," Romney told the National Rifle Association's annual convention. "President Obama has not. I will."
July 20: Like Obama, Romney avoids talking politics on the day of the Aurora shooting. He says Americans are coming together in their sorrow: "There is something we can do. We can offer comfort to someone near us who is suffering or heavy laden, and we can mourn with those who mourn in Colorado."
So really people I ask you, do you really think that your rights are protected under either of these 2 windbags??? Or will it be politics as usual???
I have to thank CONNIE CASS from the Associated Press for her participation in this blog.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Supreme Court weighs all-or-nothing on healthcare law.....are you kidding me???
The fate of President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul will be on the line on Wednesday when the Supreme Court considers whether the entire law must fall without its centerpiece insurance mandate.
Completing three days of historic arguments, the nine justices will hear arguments on whether the rest of the law, Obama's signature domestic accomplishment, can survive should the court decide Congress exceeded its powers by requiring all Americans buy insurance by 2014.
The Obama administration faced skeptical questioning on Tuesday from the court's five-member conservative majority on the insurance requirement. But it was unclear whether it would strike it down or let it stand.
A ruling on the mandate that most people obtain health insurance or face a penalty appeared likely to come down to Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, two conservatives who pummeled the administration's lawyer with questions.
If even one of the five conservative Republican appointees joins the four liberal Democratic appointees on the court, the law would be upheld. If the five conservatives remain unified, the law would fall. A ruling is expected by late June.
The justices on will also look at whether Congress had the power under the U.S. Constitution to require that the states dramatically expand the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor, providing coverage for an estimated 17 million Americans.
FINANCIAL STAKES
The stakes could not be higher, financially, legally and politically.
The law, which constitutes the U.S. healthcare system's biggest overhaul in nearly 50 years, seeks to provide health insurance to more than 30 million previously uninsured Americans and to slow down soaring medical costs.
The law has wide ramifications for company costs and for the health sector, affecting insurers, drugmakers, device companies and hospitals.
The healthcare investment bank Leerink Swann said in a research note that Wednesday's session was more important for managed care stocks and whether the individual mandate - requiring most people to buy coverage by 2014 or face a penalty - can be separated from the rest of the law.
For hospital stocks, it said the loss of expanded coverage, through the Medicaid program or through the individual mandate, would he a negative development.
Annual U.S. healthcare spending totals $2.6 trillion, about 18 percent of the annual gross domestic product. That translates to $8,402 per person every year.
For the Supreme Court, the Wednesday arguments will complete a thorough legal and constitutional review of the law, the most important piece of social legislation in decades. Each of the three days of arguments, crowds of supporters and opponents have gathered outside, chanting and carrying signs.
The challengers, 26 states and a small business trade group, will be represented by Paul Clement, a former solicitor general during George W. Bush's presidency.
Clement argued in written briefs that the insurance mandate was at the heart of the law and so critical to its operation that all of it must be invalidated if the requirement to buy health insurance is stripped from it.
He also argued that the Medicaid expansion was unconstitutional and the entire law should be declared invalid on those grounds as well.
TOP LAWYERS
Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, the Obama administration's top courtroom lawyer, will also argue on Wednesday. He has defended the Medicaid expansion on the grounds Congress clearly has the power to set the terms under which the federal government disburses funds to the states.
Also arguing on Wednesday will be Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler, advocating the administration's position that if the insurance mandate is struck down, then only two other provisions would have to fall.
Those provisions bar insurers from refusing coverage because of a person's pre-existing medical condition and from charging more due to a person's medical history.
The court has appointed an outside private lawyer, H. Bartow Farr III, to argue that all other provisions can survive without the insurance mandate. That was the ruling last year by a U.S. court of appeals in Atlanta.
A Supreme Court decision striking down the law would be a huge political and legal defeat for Obama ahead of the November 6 election, when he seeks another four-year term.
A ruling upholding the law would be a major vindication for Obama, but could make healthcare an even bigger issue in the presidential and congressional elections. Republican presidential candidates all oppose it and could fight even harder to repeal if the court leaves in place the entire law.
The Supreme Court cases are National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, No. 11-393; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida, No. 11-398; and Florida v. Department of Health and Human Services, No. 11-400.
In my honest opinion do you truely believe that SCOTUS wont agree with the obama administration? They have to, because if this case fails to pass the mustard(and it doesnt)they will have to correct every case they have argued against using the commerce clause and since the judicial branch has surpassed their powers beyound what The Constitution has enumerated right along with the executive, and legislative branches they have to continue their dishonest and ILLEGAL practices...
(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Lewis Krauskopf in New York; editing by Todd Eastham)
Completing three days of historic arguments, the nine justices will hear arguments on whether the rest of the law, Obama's signature domestic accomplishment, can survive should the court decide Congress exceeded its powers by requiring all Americans buy insurance by 2014.
The Obama administration faced skeptical questioning on Tuesday from the court's five-member conservative majority on the insurance requirement. But it was unclear whether it would strike it down or let it stand.
A ruling on the mandate that most people obtain health insurance or face a penalty appeared likely to come down to Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, two conservatives who pummeled the administration's lawyer with questions.
If even one of the five conservative Republican appointees joins the four liberal Democratic appointees on the court, the law would be upheld. If the five conservatives remain unified, the law would fall. A ruling is expected by late June.
The justices on will also look at whether Congress had the power under the U.S. Constitution to require that the states dramatically expand the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor, providing coverage for an estimated 17 million Americans.
FINANCIAL STAKES
The stakes could not be higher, financially, legally and politically.
The law, which constitutes the U.S. healthcare system's biggest overhaul in nearly 50 years, seeks to provide health insurance to more than 30 million previously uninsured Americans and to slow down soaring medical costs.
The law has wide ramifications for company costs and for the health sector, affecting insurers, drugmakers, device companies and hospitals.
The healthcare investment bank Leerink Swann said in a research note that Wednesday's session was more important for managed care stocks and whether the individual mandate - requiring most people to buy coverage by 2014 or face a penalty - can be separated from the rest of the law.
For hospital stocks, it said the loss of expanded coverage, through the Medicaid program or through the individual mandate, would he a negative development.
Annual U.S. healthcare spending totals $2.6 trillion, about 18 percent of the annual gross domestic product. That translates to $8,402 per person every year.
For the Supreme Court, the Wednesday arguments will complete a thorough legal and constitutional review of the law, the most important piece of social legislation in decades. Each of the three days of arguments, crowds of supporters and opponents have gathered outside, chanting and carrying signs.
The challengers, 26 states and a small business trade group, will be represented by Paul Clement, a former solicitor general during George W. Bush's presidency.
Clement argued in written briefs that the insurance mandate was at the heart of the law and so critical to its operation that all of it must be invalidated if the requirement to buy health insurance is stripped from it.
He also argued that the Medicaid expansion was unconstitutional and the entire law should be declared invalid on those grounds as well.
TOP LAWYERS
Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, the Obama administration's top courtroom lawyer, will also argue on Wednesday. He has defended the Medicaid expansion on the grounds Congress clearly has the power to set the terms under which the federal government disburses funds to the states.
Also arguing on Wednesday will be Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler, advocating the administration's position that if the insurance mandate is struck down, then only two other provisions would have to fall.
Those provisions bar insurers from refusing coverage because of a person's pre-existing medical condition and from charging more due to a person's medical history.
The court has appointed an outside private lawyer, H. Bartow Farr III, to argue that all other provisions can survive without the insurance mandate. That was the ruling last year by a U.S. court of appeals in Atlanta.
A Supreme Court decision striking down the law would be a huge political and legal defeat for Obama ahead of the November 6 election, when he seeks another four-year term.
A ruling upholding the law would be a major vindication for Obama, but could make healthcare an even bigger issue in the presidential and congressional elections. Republican presidential candidates all oppose it and could fight even harder to repeal if the court leaves in place the entire law.
The Supreme Court cases are National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, No. 11-393; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida, No. 11-398; and Florida v. Department of Health and Human Services, No. 11-400.
In my honest opinion do you truely believe that SCOTUS wont agree with the obama administration? They have to, because if this case fails to pass the mustard(and it doesnt)they will have to correct every case they have argued against using the commerce clause and since the judicial branch has surpassed their powers beyound what The Constitution has enumerated right along with the executive, and legislative branches they have to continue their dishonest and ILLEGAL practices...
(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Lewis Krauskopf in New York; editing by Todd Eastham)
Saturday, March 17, 2012
This is the unedited version of THE CONSTITUTION, notthe liberal breathing version
The Constitution of The United States of America
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.
-In congress, 17 September in the year of Our Lord 1787
Article 1.
Section 1
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the
United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section 2
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second
Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall
have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of
the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of
twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who
shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be
chosen.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States
which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers,
which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons,
including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not
taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.
The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting
of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten
Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of
Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State
shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be
made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three,
Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut
five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland
six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive
Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other Officers; and
shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
Section 3
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each
State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall
have one Vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election,
they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the
Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second
Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the
third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be
chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise,
during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may
make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which
shall then fill such Vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty
Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not,
when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but
shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore,
in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of
President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for
that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the
United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be
convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from
Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or
Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be
liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to
Law.
Section 4
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and
Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof;
but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except
as to the Place of Choosing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall
be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a
different Day.
Section 5
Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of
its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do
Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be
authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and
under such Penalties as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for
disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.
Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time
publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require
Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question
shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.
Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of
the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that
in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Section 6
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their
Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United
States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the
Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of
their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for
any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other
Place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected,
be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which
shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased
during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States,
shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.
Section 7
All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives;
but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate,
shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United
States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his
Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the
Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after
such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it
shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it
shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it
shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be
determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and
against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If
any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law,
in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment
prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and
House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment)
shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same
shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall
be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according
to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
Section 8
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and
Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general
Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be
uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and
with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject
of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the
Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin
of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited
Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings
and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and
Offenses against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning
Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be
for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union,
suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for
governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United
States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers,
and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline
prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District
(not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and
the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United
States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent
of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of
Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this
Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or
Officer thereof.
Section 9
The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing
shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to
the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed
on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when
in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
No capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the
Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the
Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from,
one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.
No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations
made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and
Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person
holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of
the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind
whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.
Section 10
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters
of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but
gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder,
ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any
Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties
on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing
its inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by
any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the
United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Control
of the Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep
Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact
with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually
invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
Article 2.
Section 1
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of
America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together
with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,
a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives
to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or
Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United
States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two
persons, of whom one at least shall not lie an Inhabitant of the same State
with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and
of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and
transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to
the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence
of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the
Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes
shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of
Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and
have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall
immediately choose by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a
Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like
Manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the Votes shall be
taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; a quorum
for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the
States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In
every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest
Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there
should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall choose from
them by Ballot the Vice-President.
The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on
which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the
United States.
No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at
the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office
of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not
have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a
Resident within the United States.
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death,
Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said
Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by
Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of
the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as
President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be
removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation,
which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he
shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other
Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following
Oath or Affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of
President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during
the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End
of their next Session.
Section 2
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual
Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the
principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject
relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to
Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in
Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make
Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall
nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint
Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court,
and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein
otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress
may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think
proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of
Departments.
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during
the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End
of their next Session.
Section 3
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the
Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge
necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both
Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with
Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he
shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he
shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all
the Officers of the United States.
Section 4
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States,
shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason,
Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Article 3.
Section 1
The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court,
and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and
establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold
their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for
their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their
Continuance in Office.
Section 2
The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under
this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which
shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other
public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime
Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to
Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of
another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the
same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a
State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and
those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original
Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall
have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and
under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and
such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been
committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such
Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.
Section 3
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against
them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person
shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the
same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no
Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except
during the Life of the Person attainted.
Article 4.
Section 1
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records,
and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general
Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be
proved, and the Effect thereof.
Section 2
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities
of Citizens in the several States.
A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall
flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on demand of the
executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be
removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof,
escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein,
be discharged from such Service or Labour, But shall be delivered up on Claim
of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
Section 3
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States
shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any
State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States,
without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of
the Congress.
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and
Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United
States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice
any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Section 4
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican
Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on
Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature
cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
Article 5.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall
propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the
Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for
proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and
Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of
three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths
thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the
Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and
fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State,
without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Article 6.
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this
Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this
Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in
Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the
Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the
Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or
Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the
several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of
the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or
Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be
required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United
States.
Article 7.
The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the
Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.
Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the
Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred
and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the
Twelfth. In Witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names.
George Washington - President and deputy from Virginia
New Hampshire - John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts - Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King
Connecticut - William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman
New York - Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey - William Livingston, David Brearley, William Paterson, Jonathan
Dayton
Pennsylvania - Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer,
Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouvernour Morris
Delaware - George Read, Gunning Bedford Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett,
Jacob Broom
Maryland - James McHenry, Daniel of St Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll
Virginia - John Blair, James Madison Jr.
North Carolina - William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson
South Carolina - John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney,
Pierce Butler
Georgia - William Few, Abraham Baldwin
Attest: William Jackson, Secretary
Amendment 1
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment 2
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the
right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment 3
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the
consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by
law.
Amendment 4
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and
no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized.
Amendment 5
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime,
unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising
in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time
of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense
to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any
criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be
taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment 6
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and
public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime
shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously
ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of
Counsel for his defence.
Amendment 7
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty
dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a
jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than
according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment 8
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel
and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment 9
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed
to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment 10
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to
the people.
Amendment 11
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any
suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States
by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
Amendment 12
The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for
President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant
of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person
voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as
Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as
President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of
votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to
the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of
the Senate;
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of
Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;
The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the
President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors
appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having
the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as
President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot,
the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by
states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this
purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and
a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House
of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice
shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then
the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other
constitutional disability of the President.
The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the
Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors
appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers
on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the
purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a
majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person
constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to
that of Vice-President of the United States.
Amendment 13
1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United
States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 14
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws.
2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to
their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State,
excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the
choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States,
Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or
the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male
inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the
United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion,
or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the
proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole
number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of
President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the
United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a
member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of
any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to
support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in
insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the
enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove
such disability.
4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law,
including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in
suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the
United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred
in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for
the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and
claims shall be held illegal and void.
5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article.
Amendment 15
1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 16
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from
whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and
without regard to any census or enumeration.
Amendment 17
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each
State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall
have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the
executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such
vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the
executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the
vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of
any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
Amendment 18
1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale,
or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into,
or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to
the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as
provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the
submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Amendment 19
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment 20
1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th
day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d
day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this
article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then
begin.
2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting
shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint
a different day.
3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the
President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become
President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for
the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to
qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President
shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein
neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified,
declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to
act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President
or Vice President shall have qualified.
4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the
persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever
the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the
death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President
whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.
5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the
ratification of this article.
6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several States within seven years from the date of its submission.
Amendment 21
1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States
is hereby repealed.
2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession
of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in
violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
3. The article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided
in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof
to the States by the Congress.
Amendment 22
1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,
and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for
more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President
shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this
Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this
Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may
be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term
within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of
President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States
by the Congress.
Amendment 23
1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall
appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of
President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and
Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were
a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in
addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for
the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors
appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such
duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 24
1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other
election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or
Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to
pay any poll tax or other tax.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 25
1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or
resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the
President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon
confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate
and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he
is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he
transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties
shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers
of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law
provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of
the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is
unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President
shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting
President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration
that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office
unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of
the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,
transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the
President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon
Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty eight hours for that
purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty one days after
receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session,
within twenty one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by
two thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the
powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge
the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers
and duties of his office.
Amendment 26
1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or
older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
State on account of age.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 27
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and
Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall
have intervened.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.
-In congress, 17 September in the year of Our Lord 1787
Article 1.
Section 1
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the
United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section 2
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second
Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall
have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of
the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of
twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who
shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be
chosen.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States
which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers,
which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons,
including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not
taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.
The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting
of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten
Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of
Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State
shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be
made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three,
Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut
five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland
six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive
Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other Officers; and
shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
Section 3
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each
State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall
have one Vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election,
they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the
Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second
Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the
third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be
chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise,
during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may
make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which
shall then fill such Vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty
Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not,
when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but
shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore,
in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of
President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for
that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the
United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be
convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from
Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or
Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be
liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to
Law.
Section 4
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and
Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof;
but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except
as to the Place of Choosing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall
be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a
different Day.
Section 5
Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of
its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do
Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be
authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and
under such Penalties as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for
disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.
Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time
publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require
Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question
shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.
Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of
the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that
in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Section 6
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their
Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United
States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the
Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of
their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for
any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other
Place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected,
be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which
shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased
during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States,
shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.
Section 7
All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives;
but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate,
shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United
States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his
Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the
Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after
such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it
shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it
shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it
shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be
determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and
against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If
any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law,
in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment
prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and
House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment)
shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same
shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall
be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according
to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
Section 8
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and
Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general
Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be
uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and
with the Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject
of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the
Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin
of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited
Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings
and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and
Offenses against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning
Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be
for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union,
suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for
governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United
States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers,
and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline
prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District
(not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and
the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United
States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent
of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of
Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this
Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or
Officer thereof.
Section 9
The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing
shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to
the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed
on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when
in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
No capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the
Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the
Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from,
one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.
No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations
made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and
Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person
holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of
the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind
whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.
Section 10
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters
of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but
gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder,
ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any
Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties
on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing
its inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by
any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the
United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Control
of the Congress.
No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep
Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact
with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually
invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.
Article 2.
Section 1
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of
America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together
with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct,
a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives
to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or
Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United
States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two
persons, of whom one at least shall not lie an Inhabitant of the same State
with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and
of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and
transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to
the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence
of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the
Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes
shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of
Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and
have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall
immediately choose by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a
Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like
Manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the Votes shall be
taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; a quorum
for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two-thirds of the
States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In
every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest
Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there
should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall choose from
them by Ballot the Vice-President.
The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on
which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the
United States.
No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at
the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office
of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not
have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a
Resident within the United States.
In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death,
Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said
Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by
Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of
the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as
President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be
removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation,
which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he
shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other
Emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following
Oath or Affirmation:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of
President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during
the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End
of their next Session.
Section 2
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual
Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the
principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject
relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to
Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in
Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make
Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall
nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint
Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court,
and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein
otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress
may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think
proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of
Departments.
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during
the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End
of their next Session.
Section 3
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the
Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge
necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both
Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with
Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he
shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he
shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all
the Officers of the United States.
Section 4
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States,
shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason,
Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
Article 3.
Section 1
The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court,
and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and
establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold
their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for
their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their
Continuance in Office.
Section 2
The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under
this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which
shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other
public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime
Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to
Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of
another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the
same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a
State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and
those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original
Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall
have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and
under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and
such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been
committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such
Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.
Section 3
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against
them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person
shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the
same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no
Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except
during the Life of the Person attainted.
Article 4.
Section 1
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records,
and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general
Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be
proved, and the Effect thereof.
Section 2
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities
of Citizens in the several States.
A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall
flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on demand of the
executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be
removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof,
escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein,
be discharged from such Service or Labour, But shall be delivered up on Claim
of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.
Section 3
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States
shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any
State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States,
without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of
the Congress.
The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and
Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United
States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice
any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.
Section 4
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican
Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on
Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature
cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
Article 5.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall
propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the
Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for
proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and
Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of
three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths
thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the
Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One
thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and
fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State,
without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Article 6.
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this
Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this
Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in
Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the
Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the
Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or
Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the
several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of
the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or
Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be
required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United
States.
Article 7.
The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the
Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.
Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the
Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred
and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the
Twelfth. In Witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names.
George Washington - President and deputy from Virginia
New Hampshire - John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts - Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King
Connecticut - William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman
New York - Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey - William Livingston, David Brearley, William Paterson, Jonathan
Dayton
Pennsylvania - Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer,
Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouvernour Morris
Delaware - George Read, Gunning Bedford Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett,
Jacob Broom
Maryland - James McHenry, Daniel of St Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll
Virginia - John Blair, James Madison Jr.
North Carolina - William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson
South Carolina - John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney,
Pierce Butler
Georgia - William Few, Abraham Baldwin
Attest: William Jackson, Secretary
Amendment 1
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment 2
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the
right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment 3
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the
consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by
law.
Amendment 4
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and
no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
persons or things to be seized.
Amendment 5
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime,
unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising
in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time
of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense
to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any
criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be
taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment 6
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and
public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime
shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously
ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of
Counsel for his defence.
Amendment 7
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty
dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a
jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than
according to the rules of the common law.
Amendment 8
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel
and unusual punishments inflicted.
Amendment 9
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed
to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment 10
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to
the people.
Amendment 11
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any
suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States
by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
Amendment 12
The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for
President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant
of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person
voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as
Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as
President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of
votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to
the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of
the Senate;
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of
Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;
The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the
President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors
appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having
the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as
President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot,
the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by
states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this
purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and
a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House
of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice
shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then
the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other
constitutional disability of the President.
The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the
Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors
appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers
on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the
purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a
majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person
constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to
that of Vice-President of the United States.
Amendment 13
1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United
States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 14
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any
State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of
law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws.
2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to
their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State,
excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the
choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States,
Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or
the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male
inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the
United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion,
or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the
proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole
number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of
President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the
United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a
member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of
any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to
support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in
insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the
enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove
such disability.
4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law,
including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in
suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the
United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred
in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for
the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and
claims shall be held illegal and void.
5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article.
Amendment 15
1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 16
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from
whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and
without regard to any census or enumeration.
Amendment 17
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each
State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall
have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications
requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the
executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such
vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the
executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the
vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of
any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
Amendment 18
1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale,
or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into,
or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to
the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as
provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the
submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
Amendment 19
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment 20
1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th
day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d
day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this
article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then
begin.
2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting
shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint
a different day.
3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the
President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become
President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for
the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to
qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President
shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein
neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified,
declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to
act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President
or Vice President shall have qualified.
4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the
persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever
the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the
death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President
whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.
5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the
ratification of this article.
6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several States within seven years from the date of its submission.
Amendment 21
1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States
is hereby repealed.
2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession
of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in
violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.
3. The article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided
in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof
to the States by the Congress.
Amendment 22
1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice,
and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for
more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President
shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this
Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this
Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may
be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term
within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of
President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an
amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the
several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States
by the Congress.
Amendment 23
1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall
appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of
President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and
Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were
a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in
addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for
the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors
appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such
duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 24
1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other
election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or
Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to
pay any poll tax or other tax.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 25
1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or
resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the
President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon
confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate
and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he
is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he
transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties
shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers
of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law
provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of
the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is
unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President
shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting
President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration
that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office
unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of
the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,
transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the
President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon
Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty eight hours for that
purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty one days after
receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session,
within twenty one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by
two thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the
powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge
the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers
and duties of his office.
Amendment 26
1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or
older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
State on account of age.
2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Amendment 27
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and
Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall
have intervened.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Another election cycle of deadbeats to chose from....
Here we go again folks, another election cycle where all we get is deadbeats to chose from...
from a lib like romney, to a gov insider like newt whos def not a conservative, to a war monger like santorum, to paul who believes in going back to governing by the constitution, but has a crazy notion of foriegn affairs......
the simple fact is that we are screwed and obama probably will win re-election because we(conservatives) were not paying attention to what was going on in washington for years and the dems/libs slowly but surely took over our government...
No one man can fix the problems that face this great nation, and no one running for president(besides ron paul) is even talking about cutting back our over bloated government, they are only talking about managing the fed gov better.....AND THIS IS NOT A VIABLE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS THAT WE ARE NOW FACING!
Lets face the facts, we are broke and we have to stop and cancel all entitlement programs, not in 5 or 10 years, BUT NOW, TODAY, before its too late, but to be honest who is willing to give up their cushy gov benefits and freebies? Thats the real question!
Think about this when you go to the polls to vote for our next Socialist President
from a lib like romney, to a gov insider like newt whos def not a conservative, to a war monger like santorum, to paul who believes in going back to governing by the constitution, but has a crazy notion of foriegn affairs......
the simple fact is that we are screwed and obama probably will win re-election because we(conservatives) were not paying attention to what was going on in washington for years and the dems/libs slowly but surely took over our government...
No one man can fix the problems that face this great nation, and no one running for president(besides ron paul) is even talking about cutting back our over bloated government, they are only talking about managing the fed gov better.....AND THIS IS NOT A VIABLE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS THAT WE ARE NOW FACING!
Lets face the facts, we are broke and we have to stop and cancel all entitlement programs, not in 5 or 10 years, BUT NOW, TODAY, before its too late, but to be honest who is willing to give up their cushy gov benefits and freebies? Thats the real question!
Think about this when you go to the polls to vote for our next Socialist President
Saturday, October 8, 2011
American Assassinations No Big Deal our Hero Lincoln Did the Same thing right? OMG...
I’m going to play a little exchange of the intro of Bret Baier asking the question, and then Krauthammer’s shocking response.
[Clip] Woman: And the Constitution says you cannot deny a person due process. You cannot deny them life, liberty, property, without offering them due process.
Goldberg: The Constitution says Congress can declare war, and everyone agreed that that was a declaration of war.
Woman: But we have seen the Supreme Court rule over and over that, even if he was an enemy combatant, he still has constitutional rights. He’s an American.
Goldberg: I guarantee, I will bet you the Congress, the Court does not have a problem with this.
Charles Krauthammer: We had the Civil War in which our side mowed down American citizens, Confederate soldiers who were recognized – never recognized as the members of another country, in battle after battle. In Pickett’s Charge, we didn’t send lawyers out to interview Confederate soldiers and ask them if they were Americans, read them Miranda Rights, which of course that didn’t exist until a hundred years later. We shot them.
Woman: But they were wearing uniforms.
Charles Krauthammer: That doesn’t – but they were American citizens.
Woman: Right.
Goldberg: Confederate spies in the North were shot on sight.
Woman: No, but they...
Charles Krauthammer: The point is that American citizenry protects you. It doesn’t apply in insurrection. Now, normally people will say only insurrection on American soil, though why should your presence in Yemen protect you? Here was a guy who was fomenting insurrection, trying to get Americans to turn against the United States and to attack America in the homeland. [End clip]
Now I ask you, do you agree with this assessment?
Did you hear Goldberg jump in there? “Well, Southern spies, Confederate spies were ordered shot on capture.” Oh, just bathe in the blood of the Confederacy, Jonah Goldberg, you hack. I mean, ladies and gentlemen, this is just sick. And Krauthammer, “Well, we mowed down entire armies of Confederate soldiers.” I beg to differ with you, sir. “They never were recognized as citizens....” Recognized by who, that tyrant tinhorn dictator, Abraham Lincoln? You have got to be kidding me. The reason there was an alleged “war” that was started by Mr. Lincoln was because the South separated. Those, you know, this really just pisses me off. The Southern soldiers swore an oath to protect and defend the Confederate Constitution, or the Constitution of their state in the absence of the Confederate Constitution being ratified. I mean, this is beyond-the-pale macabre, here.
So the longing for the Neocon wing of the Republican Party is, look, if you guys don’t go along with us, we’ll be perfectly justified in shooting all of you Tea Party hacks that try and secede again. Oh, yeah, we’ll take you out. Even if you declare yourself citizens of Texas, Obama will be justified, or President Romney will be justified in sending the Army out to kill you. Anything else you’d like to do to me, Charles? Any other deprivation of life and property you’d like to visit upon me while you’re bathing in the war blood of people that have decided they do not want to be governed by you and your idolatry to Abraham Lincoln any longer?
I mean, folks, really, this is the end sum game here, and this is where there is a divide that ought to be talked about, ought to be debated, and ought to be exploited. If the citizens of this country decide – and when I say “country,” I mean those living in a state. If they decide that they have had enough of the federal Leviathan, that they’ve had enough of their fiat currency, that they’ve had enough of their sons and daughters being called into never-ending wars, that they have had enough of the tyrannical EPA, that they’ve had enough of the devaluation of their properties, that they’ve had enough of federal Georges coming into their states and their localities and telling them they can’t pray in public, that they’ve had enough of all the three-and-a-half batrillion kadrillion kajillion things that this federal monster of Mordor on the Potomac River does, and they choose a different form of government, different from what is currently in force here, that is their natural, God-given, human right to do so. But to invoke Lincoln mowing down indiscriminate – well, I shouldn’t say “indiscriminately.” There was a battle, and the South did shoot back, so scratch that. But to invoke Pickett just mowing down Confederate citizens as the justification for this?
You see now that the conservatives in the Republican arm or the DeceptiCon wing of the Republican Party has no problem with the size and the gargantuan nature of the state, ladies and gentlemen. They have no problem with the state exercising and using brutal, lethal force against you or anyone else.
Now dont get me wrong," I am not comparing Awlaki to the Confederates, but the statement is clear. We have taught people what happens if they don’t agree with our government.”
To me this is the whole point!
[Clip] Woman: And the Constitution says you cannot deny a person due process. You cannot deny them life, liberty, property, without offering them due process.
Goldberg: The Constitution says Congress can declare war, and everyone agreed that that was a declaration of war.
Woman: But we have seen the Supreme Court rule over and over that, even if he was an enemy combatant, he still has constitutional rights. He’s an American.
Goldberg: I guarantee, I will bet you the Congress, the Court does not have a problem with this.
Charles Krauthammer: We had the Civil War in which our side mowed down American citizens, Confederate soldiers who were recognized – never recognized as the members of another country, in battle after battle. In Pickett’s Charge, we didn’t send lawyers out to interview Confederate soldiers and ask them if they were Americans, read them Miranda Rights, which of course that didn’t exist until a hundred years later. We shot them.
Woman: But they were wearing uniforms.
Charles Krauthammer: That doesn’t – but they were American citizens.
Woman: Right.
Goldberg: Confederate spies in the North were shot on sight.
Woman: No, but they...
Charles Krauthammer: The point is that American citizenry protects you. It doesn’t apply in insurrection. Now, normally people will say only insurrection on American soil, though why should your presence in Yemen protect you? Here was a guy who was fomenting insurrection, trying to get Americans to turn against the United States and to attack America in the homeland. [End clip]
Now I ask you, do you agree with this assessment?
Did you hear Goldberg jump in there? “Well, Southern spies, Confederate spies were ordered shot on capture.” Oh, just bathe in the blood of the Confederacy, Jonah Goldberg, you hack. I mean, ladies and gentlemen, this is just sick. And Krauthammer, “Well, we mowed down entire armies of Confederate soldiers.” I beg to differ with you, sir. “They never were recognized as citizens....” Recognized by who, that tyrant tinhorn dictator, Abraham Lincoln? You have got to be kidding me. The reason there was an alleged “war” that was started by Mr. Lincoln was because the South separated. Those, you know, this really just pisses me off. The Southern soldiers swore an oath to protect and defend the Confederate Constitution, or the Constitution of their state in the absence of the Confederate Constitution being ratified. I mean, this is beyond-the-pale macabre, here.
So the longing for the Neocon wing of the Republican Party is, look, if you guys don’t go along with us, we’ll be perfectly justified in shooting all of you Tea Party hacks that try and secede again. Oh, yeah, we’ll take you out. Even if you declare yourself citizens of Texas, Obama will be justified, or President Romney will be justified in sending the Army out to kill you. Anything else you’d like to do to me, Charles? Any other deprivation of life and property you’d like to visit upon me while you’re bathing in the war blood of people that have decided they do not want to be governed by you and your idolatry to Abraham Lincoln any longer?
I mean, folks, really, this is the end sum game here, and this is where there is a divide that ought to be talked about, ought to be debated, and ought to be exploited. If the citizens of this country decide – and when I say “country,” I mean those living in a state. If they decide that they have had enough of the federal Leviathan, that they’ve had enough of their fiat currency, that they’ve had enough of their sons and daughters being called into never-ending wars, that they have had enough of the tyrannical EPA, that they’ve had enough of the devaluation of their properties, that they’ve had enough of federal Georges coming into their states and their localities and telling them they can’t pray in public, that they’ve had enough of all the three-and-a-half batrillion kadrillion kajillion things that this federal monster of Mordor on the Potomac River does, and they choose a different form of government, different from what is currently in force here, that is their natural, God-given, human right to do so. But to invoke Lincoln mowing down indiscriminate – well, I shouldn’t say “indiscriminately.” There was a battle, and the South did shoot back, so scratch that. But to invoke Pickett just mowing down Confederate citizens as the justification for this?
You see now that the conservatives in the Republican arm or the DeceptiCon wing of the Republican Party has no problem with the size and the gargantuan nature of the state, ladies and gentlemen. They have no problem with the state exercising and using brutal, lethal force against you or anyone else.
Now dont get me wrong," I am not comparing Awlaki to the Confederates, but the statement is clear. We have taught people what happens if they don’t agree with our government.”
To me this is the whole point!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Rand Paul on Empire and Non-Interventionism
Mike speaks with Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky about his father's campaign for President, a return to a humble foreign policy, and the economic reality we as a nation currently face.
Mike: Now to the Dudemaker Hotline, my friend and many of yours, the great senator from the great state of Kentucky and son of Ron Paul, Rand Paul with us. Rand, it’s been a while. How are you, my friend?
Senator Rand Paul: Good, good to be with you.
Mike: Yeah, it’s good to hear from you. So does it bother you to still hear, though, the ideas which are ancient and timeless that your dad espouses, does it bother you to hear the pejorative terms that are still associated with it? I don’t hear it directed at you as much as it did when you first ran for office. But towards your dad, they still have – “they” being the industrial news complex, seem to have no problem still hurling these just unfounded insults at it. How do you, as a son, how do you take that?
Rand: Well, a lot of it still means that, you know, people start out with their preset notions, particularly on foreign policy, that everything that is not, you know, all out interminable war is called “isolationism.” So anything less than that really is given that pejorative term. And really what I tell people is, is that there are two polar extremes. One is that we’re everywhere all the time, and one is that we’re nowhere any of the time. And right now I think we’re towards the extreme of being everywhere all the time. So backing away from that is not isolationism. That is much less intervention.
But it’s also, I think people are coming around to that viewpoint, even others on the Republican field, because they realize we’re running out of money. They realize we don’t have enough money to be everywhere all the time. And I think they also are starting to see that the Constitution really should be obeyed. It’s easier for them to see when there’s a Democrat in the White House; but they are seeing it through the Libya action, even though in practical purposes it looks like it’ll be successful, it wasn’t approached from a constitutional fashion, and there are severely bad precedents with going to war that way.
Mike: Is it tough to take this stand in the United States Senate still? Or are you finding that there are now more people, more senators that are more aligned with and are at least open to the discussion about, okay, Senator Paul, yeah, let’s talk about this interventionism. Is it getting better, or is it status quo?
Rand: I think it’s much better, actually. There are 47 Republicans in the U.S. Senate. And I’d say there’s a good solid 10 to 12 who are at least circumspect about endless intervention and about going to war with no declaration of war and whether the President should have this power versus Congress. So there really is a debate occurring. We, during the last session, brought up the President’s words from 2007 when he campaigned and said that no president should unilaterally go to war without congressional authority. We had a vote on that.
Now, the Democrats, I think, were embarrassed, and none of them voted to support the President’s own words. But we had 10 Republicans who did, and it was a symbolic vote. But, you know, 10 out of 47 shows that there’s at least some divide. It’s not as monolithic as it used to be. And I think that bothers some of the extreme on the side of, you know, the perpetual war faction is bothered by it. But really there is a healthy debate now in the Republican caucus. You saw on the House side that they actually, you know, voted against sanctioning the Libya venture. So, you know, really I think there is a serious discussion, even within Republican circles now.
Mike: Well, and that’s good, and that’s started by your father. I mean, your father has been out there blazing this path now. It’s refreshing at least to hear that it’s being discussed. Let’s move on to a subject I know near and dear to your heart, economics here. The President is slated to give this address here after Labor Day and to tell us how our magisterial federal overlords are going to help us overcome all of our economic problems. I know you to be a student of the Austrian school of economics. That may not apply in the United States Senate. But if given the chance, aren’t there things that can be undone, that would immediately unleash capital and job creation in the United States?
Rand: Absolutely. I think tomorrow or yesterday you could lower the corporate income tax and bring a lot of capital home from foreign countries, and that’d be a huge infusion into our economy. Right now, you know, our corporate income tax is actually twice what Canada’s is. And I never thought I’d be complimenting Canadian public policy, but they actually have a much lower income tax than we do. So that’s the first thing you can do, and that would help quite a bit.
The second thing you can do is quit doing what you are doing, and that’s adding new regulations every day. The President now is going to back off and say, oh, he’s going to reduce $10 billion worth of regulations. Well, just this year he added $60 billion. That’s not counting ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank. So, you know, really, I tell people I think this is the most anti-business President we’ve had in my lifetime.
Mike: Yeah, and it’s not only it’s anti-business, it’s anti-small business. Take it from someone who’s a small businessman, before you were in the Senate, you were a privately contracted ophthalmologist. You were a small business. This stuff matters here. When you get letters in the mail like the one I received the other day informing me that, because of the 2008 Economic Recovery Act, if I don’t fork over certain documents to my bank, the IRS is going to come in and assess me a 28 percent tax on all of my sales. What can you do as a member of the United States Senate to stop some of this stuff?
Rand: Well, here’s the scary thing. The courts haven’t been on our side on this either. But for several decades now the courts have ruled that your banking records have no right to privacy. And I say if my banking records have no right to privacy, I don’t have privacy because everything I do is through credit cards or banks. If you can track my credit card, you can tell when I go to the doctor, what kind of medicine I take, who I associate with, whether I drink alcohol, whether I gamble. I mean, really, I think your banking records are a large part of your life, and we need to protect them. But we need to change some court decisions. We need to legislate and say your banking records are private.
You know, these Suspicious Activity Reports that they do under the Patriot Act, there have been eight million of them sifted through in the last 10 years. If you talk to bankers, the bankers don’t like being policemen. They don’t like doing it. It adds cost to their business. But you can’t get anybody in Washington to try to reform that process. In fact, we were discussing the Patriot Act on the floor, and I brought up SARs, and a couple of members of the Intelligence Committee were standing there, and they were like, huh? What is an SAR? They didn’t even know what they were, and we’re doing eight million of them over the last 10 years.
Mike: That is just – that is unprecedented. Now, I remember back in June I got a letter from your office, an email letter, and they had included in that email letter a letter that you had written to the head of the FBI. And you had asked him certain things about what you’re talking about here, and under what clause in the Constitution was he finding the authority to conduct these warrantless wiretaps and these other investigations. Did you get an answer to that query? I’m just curious.
Rand: I don’t think there is an answer that’s acceptable coming from them. They just simply said they have the authority under the Patriot Act. Whether or not the Patriot Act agrees with the Constitution, they’re sort of quiet on that subject. One of the things I did get from the meeting is that I think they are trying to do a better job of screening those folks they’re bringing in from Iraq. But my point of view is, is that I’m not sure why we need to bring in, you know, 18,000 people from Iraq every year when their country’s been liberated, has a democratic government now. And I think they need to be staying home and fixing up their country rather than, you know, coming to our country and living on welfare.
Now people I have to ask you, hows that for a clear and to the point response to a very serious problem?
My thanks to Mr Rand and Mr Church for thei time and wisdom in this matter....
Mike: Now to the Dudemaker Hotline, my friend and many of yours, the great senator from the great state of Kentucky and son of Ron Paul, Rand Paul with us. Rand, it’s been a while. How are you, my friend?
Senator Rand Paul: Good, good to be with you.
Mike: Yeah, it’s good to hear from you. So does it bother you to still hear, though, the ideas which are ancient and timeless that your dad espouses, does it bother you to hear the pejorative terms that are still associated with it? I don’t hear it directed at you as much as it did when you first ran for office. But towards your dad, they still have – “they” being the industrial news complex, seem to have no problem still hurling these just unfounded insults at it. How do you, as a son, how do you take that?
Rand: Well, a lot of it still means that, you know, people start out with their preset notions, particularly on foreign policy, that everything that is not, you know, all out interminable war is called “isolationism.” So anything less than that really is given that pejorative term. And really what I tell people is, is that there are two polar extremes. One is that we’re everywhere all the time, and one is that we’re nowhere any of the time. And right now I think we’re towards the extreme of being everywhere all the time. So backing away from that is not isolationism. That is much less intervention.
But it’s also, I think people are coming around to that viewpoint, even others on the Republican field, because they realize we’re running out of money. They realize we don’t have enough money to be everywhere all the time. And I think they also are starting to see that the Constitution really should be obeyed. It’s easier for them to see when there’s a Democrat in the White House; but they are seeing it through the Libya action, even though in practical purposes it looks like it’ll be successful, it wasn’t approached from a constitutional fashion, and there are severely bad precedents with going to war that way.
Mike: Is it tough to take this stand in the United States Senate still? Or are you finding that there are now more people, more senators that are more aligned with and are at least open to the discussion about, okay, Senator Paul, yeah, let’s talk about this interventionism. Is it getting better, or is it status quo?
Rand: I think it’s much better, actually. There are 47 Republicans in the U.S. Senate. And I’d say there’s a good solid 10 to 12 who are at least circumspect about endless intervention and about going to war with no declaration of war and whether the President should have this power versus Congress. So there really is a debate occurring. We, during the last session, brought up the President’s words from 2007 when he campaigned and said that no president should unilaterally go to war without congressional authority. We had a vote on that.
Now, the Democrats, I think, were embarrassed, and none of them voted to support the President’s own words. But we had 10 Republicans who did, and it was a symbolic vote. But, you know, 10 out of 47 shows that there’s at least some divide. It’s not as monolithic as it used to be. And I think that bothers some of the extreme on the side of, you know, the perpetual war faction is bothered by it. But really there is a healthy debate now in the Republican caucus. You saw on the House side that they actually, you know, voted against sanctioning the Libya venture. So, you know, really I think there is a serious discussion, even within Republican circles now.
Mike: Well, and that’s good, and that’s started by your father. I mean, your father has been out there blazing this path now. It’s refreshing at least to hear that it’s being discussed. Let’s move on to a subject I know near and dear to your heart, economics here. The President is slated to give this address here after Labor Day and to tell us how our magisterial federal overlords are going to help us overcome all of our economic problems. I know you to be a student of the Austrian school of economics. That may not apply in the United States Senate. But if given the chance, aren’t there things that can be undone, that would immediately unleash capital and job creation in the United States?
Rand: Absolutely. I think tomorrow or yesterday you could lower the corporate income tax and bring a lot of capital home from foreign countries, and that’d be a huge infusion into our economy. Right now, you know, our corporate income tax is actually twice what Canada’s is. And I never thought I’d be complimenting Canadian public policy, but they actually have a much lower income tax than we do. So that’s the first thing you can do, and that would help quite a bit.
The second thing you can do is quit doing what you are doing, and that’s adding new regulations every day. The President now is going to back off and say, oh, he’s going to reduce $10 billion worth of regulations. Well, just this year he added $60 billion. That’s not counting ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank. So, you know, really, I tell people I think this is the most anti-business President we’ve had in my lifetime.
Mike: Yeah, and it’s not only it’s anti-business, it’s anti-small business. Take it from someone who’s a small businessman, before you were in the Senate, you were a privately contracted ophthalmologist. You were a small business. This stuff matters here. When you get letters in the mail like the one I received the other day informing me that, because of the 2008 Economic Recovery Act, if I don’t fork over certain documents to my bank, the IRS is going to come in and assess me a 28 percent tax on all of my sales. What can you do as a member of the United States Senate to stop some of this stuff?
Rand: Well, here’s the scary thing. The courts haven’t been on our side on this either. But for several decades now the courts have ruled that your banking records have no right to privacy. And I say if my banking records have no right to privacy, I don’t have privacy because everything I do is through credit cards or banks. If you can track my credit card, you can tell when I go to the doctor, what kind of medicine I take, who I associate with, whether I drink alcohol, whether I gamble. I mean, really, I think your banking records are a large part of your life, and we need to protect them. But we need to change some court decisions. We need to legislate and say your banking records are private.
You know, these Suspicious Activity Reports that they do under the Patriot Act, there have been eight million of them sifted through in the last 10 years. If you talk to bankers, the bankers don’t like being policemen. They don’t like doing it. It adds cost to their business. But you can’t get anybody in Washington to try to reform that process. In fact, we were discussing the Patriot Act on the floor, and I brought up SARs, and a couple of members of the Intelligence Committee were standing there, and they were like, huh? What is an SAR? They didn’t even know what they were, and we’re doing eight million of them over the last 10 years.
Mike: That is just – that is unprecedented. Now, I remember back in June I got a letter from your office, an email letter, and they had included in that email letter a letter that you had written to the head of the FBI. And you had asked him certain things about what you’re talking about here, and under what clause in the Constitution was he finding the authority to conduct these warrantless wiretaps and these other investigations. Did you get an answer to that query? I’m just curious.
Rand: I don’t think there is an answer that’s acceptable coming from them. They just simply said they have the authority under the Patriot Act. Whether or not the Patriot Act agrees with the Constitution, they’re sort of quiet on that subject. One of the things I did get from the meeting is that I think they are trying to do a better job of screening those folks they’re bringing in from Iraq. But my point of view is, is that I’m not sure why we need to bring in, you know, 18,000 people from Iraq every year when their country’s been liberated, has a democratic government now. And I think they need to be staying home and fixing up their country rather than, you know, coming to our country and living on welfare.
Now people I have to ask you, hows that for a clear and to the point response to a very serious problem?
My thanks to Mr Rand and Mr Church for thei time and wisdom in this matter....
Friday, July 29, 2011
GOP offers Continued Lip Service to Constitutional Fidelity
Speaker of the House, John Boehner aptly demonstrates the theory that he and the GOP’s reascension to the majority is nothing but a “mere shuffling of the deck chairs.” Whether on matters of the nation’s fiscal solvency or unilateral military actions undertaken by President Obama, fidelity to the Constitution continues to remain nothing more than lip service to an electorate exhausted from decades of political-theater.
So we have that. This story here about John Boehner here, this is just – and if you needed any evidence that the new Deck Chair Party is just that, and that there really isn’t much, there’s not too much difference between your basic DeceptiCon fake phony fraud conservative Republican and your basic Democrats, your entry-level Democrat, well, this ought to assuage you of that notion.
Here: “Freshman House Republicans are already putting House Speaker John Boehner in a bind over the budget, with a contingent of Tea Party-backed fiscal conservatives refusing to vote for any more continuing resolutions. Now a group of libertarian-leaning Republicans are balking at Obama’s missile strikes in Libya.” Why isn’t Boehner balking at the missile strikes in Libya? He is the Speaker of the damn House of Representin’. The Constitution is clear on this. If Obama wants to bomb the snot out of a Middle Eastern country and send them back to the Stone Ages, he has to get a Declaration of War from Congress. Unless he has actionable intelligence that none of us know about, that somehow Muammar Gaddafi was planning a WMD attack against the United States, well, then, the Constitution is clear on this.
I mean, even dimwits like Dennis Kucinich know this. Now, how sad is this? Seriously, folks, how sad is this? You have a rogue president who has done everything humanly possible to destroy capital formation in this country, to destroy capital incentives in this country, to jerry-rig and to continue the process, the corrupt process of transferring wealth from the little that we have, that would be we in the middle classes, of transferring our wealth, through the tax system, through the Federal Reserve, through corporatism, from us to his buddies.
This is what – you’ve always got to follow the money here, folks. It’s never really about power. It’s always about money. With a guy like Obama, it’s about money. He’s got a bunch of masters he has to pay back. This isn’t hard to figure out here. You follow the money. And the money trail ultimately leads right to Jeffrey Immelt of GE’s door, ultimately leads right to Warren Buffett’s door and all these other clowns that you see going in and outside of the White House. The big labor unions and what have you, they’re all being paid. I mean, hey, it’s great work if you can find it. The federal government is expanding at a rate unprecedented in modern history. Not even Franklin DelanObama Roosevelt expanded the federal government at the rate that Obama has. Obama seems impervious, seems oblivious to all of the people out here that have grave concerns about our financial situation and our financial malaise. He continues to just thumb his nose at any sort of congressional role in any of this and continues to thumb his nose and just to ignore, and sometimes with impunity, this thing called a Constitution.
Matter of fact, I got a note last night from Professor Kevin Gutzman – I had sent him the question, hey, what do you think about this Obama declaring war thing. And Gutzman writes back, “Well, the Constitution obviously is dead. It doesn’t have any authority to stop these madmen from doing anything. Hmm, somebody ought to write a book about this,” Kevin writes back to me. And he’s joking because he wrote a book called “Who Killed the Constitution?”
So you have Obama acting with impunity at every possible stage here. And you have a change in parties in the Congress, in the House of Representin’. And for the life of me I don’t understand why this is so hard to figure out. I mean, look, all you DeceptiCons out there, you warmongering Republicans, you can have your war. At least try and get the current president to let’s back it off a notch, okay. I know we’re the world’s policemen. I know we have to take care of everyone. There are behinds that need wiping out there. There are French little tooty-baby hands to hold. There are little tea-and-crumpet British hands to hold. “That’s right, mate, can you come help us over here [sobbing] because we’ve got to take care of this Kaddafi fellow.” Set the precedent, Mr. Boehner. Do what’s right. Demand that this president stop. Threaten to defund him. According to the administration’s own propaganda ministers there’s no troops in harm’s way. Am I right about that? We don’t have any boots on the ground, according to Obama; right?
Although I have read reports of a fighter jet going down with mechanical issues already....and that’s just great. Wonderful. Yeah. I wonder how much that jet cost? Hmm. Let’s see, we could go to the used jet lot over there in the United Arab Emirates and kick the tires and see if we can get a replacement. What kind of – hey, Abdul, what kind of deal can you make us on selling us back one of our own fighter jets? But we’re not supposed to have any boots on the ground, so you can’t use this lame-ass excuse, oh, we’re not going to defund our troops. You’re not going to defund any troops in harm’s way because we’re not supposed to have troops in harm’s way.
So where’s Michele Bachmann and the Constitution, hmm? Where are all these freshman Tea Partiers that were taking this document that I hold here in my hand and flailing it about back in January? “Oh, it’s all about being constitutional conservatives.” It is? Well, you have a president that is in need of impeachment here, that has obviously done a 180 around the Constitution. And this is not just according to radical nut jobs like me. This is according to another radical nut job in his own party, Dennis Kucinich. Here, listen to this. Here’s Bill Hemmer asking the pertinent questions of Kucinich on America’s Newsroom yesterday morning, Fox News.
[Clip] David Hemmer: This is what the House Speaker John Boehner said just yesterday: “Before any further military commitments are made, the administration must do a better job of communicating to the American people and to Congress about our mission in Libya and how it will be achieved.” My next guest calls the assault “grave” and “lacks constitutional authority.” Dennis Kucinich is the Democratic congressman from Ohio, and welcome back here to America’s Newsroom. What’s the problem going after Kaddafi?
Dennis Kucinich: Well, here it is. And I’m going to read this, and then I’ll tell you who said it. “The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.” Now, that was Barack Obama who said that on December 20, 2007. [Mike: Oh, really.] We’ve got to be very sure here that we follow the Constitution. And President Obama didn’t do that.
David Hemmer: Well, even if Congress came back and voted on it, would it pass?
Dennis Kucinich: And, you know, it’s after the fact now. I mean, there is a serious matter here that relates to the president going ahead, ordering a strike against Libya, and not involving the Congress. And your guests have talked about the cost. We’re probably into this for a half a billion dollars already. And then you think about there’s no imminent threat, there’s no endgame, are they still after regime change. We could be strengthening Islamic extremists who could be setting up camp in Eastern Libya. There are people who want to divide that nation. This is a nightmare. [End clip]
Yeah, it is a nightmare. And then the next question up is Bill Hemmer’s going, yeah, but if we don’t act, we’re going to have blood on our hands. This has been the media’s line. The members of the fringe media, the members of the Parrot Press Corps have all been out there with the exact same handwringing, oh, woe is me line. Well, if the U.S. doesn’t do something, we’re going to have blood on our hands. Why isn’t anyone else going to have blood on their hands? Why aren’t the Australians going to have blood on their hands, hmm? Why aren’t the Samoans going to have blood on their hands? Why isn’t the blood on the hands of the new democracy fighters in Egypt? And all of the wonderful democracy movements all across the Middle East? Are we going to have blood on our hands if we don’t stop the bloodshed and the violence that’s going on in Yemen? We going to have blood on our hands if we don’t stop the bloodshed and violence that’s going on in Bahrain? It’s all over the place over there.
Hey, we’re going to do this, let’s do it right. Again, start the draft up. It’s unconstitutional, but go ahead. Start the draft up. We’re going to need an army of about 10 million. We’re going to have to send them over there. Every aircraft carrier we have, every tank, every piece of munition.
What about defending the homeland you say?” Screw the homeland. Screw the United States. We don’t need to defend anything here.
We’ve got to go over there and do all these things. And of course this is all free, too. It doesn’t cost anything; right? We may already be a billion dollars into this, and it’s only been four days. Now, wait a minute. The Republicans, the DeceptiCons, say they’re saving us $2 billion a week. We’re spending half of it in Libya. So the savings of now, now the savings are down to a mere billion.
So we have that. This story here about John Boehner here, this is just – and if you needed any evidence that the new Deck Chair Party is just that, and that there really isn’t much, there’s not too much difference between your basic DeceptiCon fake phony fraud conservative Republican and your basic Democrats, your entry-level Democrat, well, this ought to assuage you of that notion.
Here: “Freshman House Republicans are already putting House Speaker John Boehner in a bind over the budget, with a contingent of Tea Party-backed fiscal conservatives refusing to vote for any more continuing resolutions. Now a group of libertarian-leaning Republicans are balking at Obama’s missile strikes in Libya.” Why isn’t Boehner balking at the missile strikes in Libya? He is the Speaker of the damn House of Representin’. The Constitution is clear on this. If Obama wants to bomb the snot out of a Middle Eastern country and send them back to the Stone Ages, he has to get a Declaration of War from Congress. Unless he has actionable intelligence that none of us know about, that somehow Muammar Gaddafi was planning a WMD attack against the United States, well, then, the Constitution is clear on this.
I mean, even dimwits like Dennis Kucinich know this. Now, how sad is this? Seriously, folks, how sad is this? You have a rogue president who has done everything humanly possible to destroy capital formation in this country, to destroy capital incentives in this country, to jerry-rig and to continue the process, the corrupt process of transferring wealth from the little that we have, that would be we in the middle classes, of transferring our wealth, through the tax system, through the Federal Reserve, through corporatism, from us to his buddies.
This is what – you’ve always got to follow the money here, folks. It’s never really about power. It’s always about money. With a guy like Obama, it’s about money. He’s got a bunch of masters he has to pay back. This isn’t hard to figure out here. You follow the money. And the money trail ultimately leads right to Jeffrey Immelt of GE’s door, ultimately leads right to Warren Buffett’s door and all these other clowns that you see going in and outside of the White House. The big labor unions and what have you, they’re all being paid. I mean, hey, it’s great work if you can find it. The federal government is expanding at a rate unprecedented in modern history. Not even Franklin DelanObama Roosevelt expanded the federal government at the rate that Obama has. Obama seems impervious, seems oblivious to all of the people out here that have grave concerns about our financial situation and our financial malaise. He continues to just thumb his nose at any sort of congressional role in any of this and continues to thumb his nose and just to ignore, and sometimes with impunity, this thing called a Constitution.
Matter of fact, I got a note last night from Professor Kevin Gutzman – I had sent him the question, hey, what do you think about this Obama declaring war thing. And Gutzman writes back, “Well, the Constitution obviously is dead. It doesn’t have any authority to stop these madmen from doing anything. Hmm, somebody ought to write a book about this,” Kevin writes back to me. And he’s joking because he wrote a book called “Who Killed the Constitution?”
So you have Obama acting with impunity at every possible stage here. And you have a change in parties in the Congress, in the House of Representin’. And for the life of me I don’t understand why this is so hard to figure out. I mean, look, all you DeceptiCons out there, you warmongering Republicans, you can have your war. At least try and get the current president to let’s back it off a notch, okay. I know we’re the world’s policemen. I know we have to take care of everyone. There are behinds that need wiping out there. There are French little tooty-baby hands to hold. There are little tea-and-crumpet British hands to hold. “That’s right, mate, can you come help us over here [sobbing] because we’ve got to take care of this Kaddafi fellow.” Set the precedent, Mr. Boehner. Do what’s right. Demand that this president stop. Threaten to defund him. According to the administration’s own propaganda ministers there’s no troops in harm’s way. Am I right about that? We don’t have any boots on the ground, according to Obama; right?
Although I have read reports of a fighter jet going down with mechanical issues already....and that’s just great. Wonderful. Yeah. I wonder how much that jet cost? Hmm. Let’s see, we could go to the used jet lot over there in the United Arab Emirates and kick the tires and see if we can get a replacement. What kind of – hey, Abdul, what kind of deal can you make us on selling us back one of our own fighter jets? But we’re not supposed to have any boots on the ground, so you can’t use this lame-ass excuse, oh, we’re not going to defund our troops. You’re not going to defund any troops in harm’s way because we’re not supposed to have troops in harm’s way.
So where’s Michele Bachmann and the Constitution, hmm? Where are all these freshman Tea Partiers that were taking this document that I hold here in my hand and flailing it about back in January? “Oh, it’s all about being constitutional conservatives.” It is? Well, you have a president that is in need of impeachment here, that has obviously done a 180 around the Constitution. And this is not just according to radical nut jobs like me. This is according to another radical nut job in his own party, Dennis Kucinich. Here, listen to this. Here’s Bill Hemmer asking the pertinent questions of Kucinich on America’s Newsroom yesterday morning, Fox News.
[Clip] David Hemmer: This is what the House Speaker John Boehner said just yesterday: “Before any further military commitments are made, the administration must do a better job of communicating to the American people and to Congress about our mission in Libya and how it will be achieved.” My next guest calls the assault “grave” and “lacks constitutional authority.” Dennis Kucinich is the Democratic congressman from Ohio, and welcome back here to America’s Newsroom. What’s the problem going after Kaddafi?
Dennis Kucinich: Well, here it is. And I’m going to read this, and then I’ll tell you who said it. “The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.” Now, that was Barack Obama who said that on December 20, 2007. [Mike: Oh, really.] We’ve got to be very sure here that we follow the Constitution. And President Obama didn’t do that.
David Hemmer: Well, even if Congress came back and voted on it, would it pass?
Dennis Kucinich: And, you know, it’s after the fact now. I mean, there is a serious matter here that relates to the president going ahead, ordering a strike against Libya, and not involving the Congress. And your guests have talked about the cost. We’re probably into this for a half a billion dollars already. And then you think about there’s no imminent threat, there’s no endgame, are they still after regime change. We could be strengthening Islamic extremists who could be setting up camp in Eastern Libya. There are people who want to divide that nation. This is a nightmare. [End clip]
Yeah, it is a nightmare. And then the next question up is Bill Hemmer’s going, yeah, but if we don’t act, we’re going to have blood on our hands. This has been the media’s line. The members of the fringe media, the members of the Parrot Press Corps have all been out there with the exact same handwringing, oh, woe is me line. Well, if the U.S. doesn’t do something, we’re going to have blood on our hands. Why isn’t anyone else going to have blood on their hands? Why aren’t the Australians going to have blood on their hands, hmm? Why aren’t the Samoans going to have blood on their hands? Why isn’t the blood on the hands of the new democracy fighters in Egypt? And all of the wonderful democracy movements all across the Middle East? Are we going to have blood on our hands if we don’t stop the bloodshed and the violence that’s going on in Yemen? We going to have blood on our hands if we don’t stop the bloodshed and violence that’s going on in Bahrain? It’s all over the place over there.
Hey, we’re going to do this, let’s do it right. Again, start the draft up. It’s unconstitutional, but go ahead. Start the draft up. We’re going to need an army of about 10 million. We’re going to have to send them over there. Every aircraft carrier we have, every tank, every piece of munition.
What about defending the homeland you say?” Screw the homeland. Screw the United States. We don’t need to defend anything here.
We’ve got to go over there and do all these things. And of course this is all free, too. It doesn’t cost anything; right? We may already be a billion dollars into this, and it’s only been four days. Now, wait a minute. The Republicans, the DeceptiCons, say they’re saving us $2 billion a week. We’re spending half of it in Libya. So the savings of now, now the savings are down to a mere billion.
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