A friendly Reminder

Is so-called “gender affirming care” safe for minors? Do the states have a duty to protect minors from such care, even if the parents and doctors approve? Do transgender prohibitions violate the Equal Protection Clause? The transgender agenda has been moving fast the last few years. That said, several states have moved to slow their progress, especially among our young people. One state, Tennessee, is being sued by the federal government. Oral arguments were heard by the Supr

Have you received a census questionnaire this year? The Census is important, but lately it appears to be more about snooping on the American people. Could these census questionnaires actually be illegal? Have you received one of these? We’re all familiar with the decennial census, the enumeration of the population every ten years, but this isn’t one of those years. While the census is an important part of the union, it’s been corrupted and used illegally for decades, but thes

Do American medical boards extort doctors to tow the party line? Did American medical boards collude with the federal government to keep medical information away from the American people? And people wonder why trust in these institutions has fallen? There were plenty of infringement on people’s rights during the COVID scamdemic, and censorship was rampant. Not only did we have members of our own government colluding to censor information they didn’t like, but we’ve had profes

Should the history of Communism be taught in school? Is it within the powers of Congress to require the creation of such a curriculum? What is the impact of allowing Congress to dictate educational standards? There are a lot of things I’d like to see done better in this country. On that list, education is right up near the top, but is it right to break the law to improve education? That’s the question I asked myself when I read the text of H.R. 5349, The “Crucial Communism Te

What is a tort and why is it important? What is the federal law regarding tort claims against the federal government. Is this law constitutional? One of the reasons I like answering questions is they prompt me to look at things I hadn’t thought about before. Take for example the recent request I had to review the Federal Tort Claims Procedure. While I review lawsuits regularly here, I’d never taken the time to look at this particular legislation. What is a tort? Let’s start w

A gun, by any other name, is still protected by the Second Amendment. Who decides what the definition of a firearm is, Congress, the ATF, or the courts. Should a person be able to build their own firearm without government permission? I cannot count how many times I’ve said it, but words mean things. It’s one of the reasons I keep referring back to documents to see the actual words used so I can find their definitions. In the case Garland v. VanDerStok, the issue seems to com

After the Constitution was signed and sent to the states, a great debate between those who supported ratification, and those who were concerned. Writings for the two groups became known as the Federalist and Antifederalist Papers. This articles focuses on papers #1, should the Constitution be ratified. I don’t believe a serious study of the Constitution can be made without looking at the public debates over the document. After the Constitutional Convention sent the proposed c

How much wastewater is too much? Congress, in the Clean Water Act, created a twisted and convoluted process for managing wastewater discharges. Are the permits the EPA issues detailed enough for San Francisco to follow or not? How much pollution is too much? We all want clean air and water, but we still want to drive our cars and flush our toilets as well. The question in San Francisco v. EPA is how specific does the EPA need to be when it tells cities how much waste they can

Catechism is used for religious instruction, but what about constitutional? Arthur J. Stansbury developed a catechism on the Constitution back in the early 1800s. This tool can help not only the young people it was designed for, but everyone learn the Constitution. When most people think of catechisms, they think of religious training tools. However, catechisms have been used for training in many subjects in our history. I was recently introduced to the Elementary Catechism o

Do you try to get out of jury duty? Have you considered how important jury duty is? What would America be like if people put as much effort into understanding jury duty as they do getting out of it? Most of us have had the experience of picking up the mail, only to get that small pit in our stomach. Maybe we utter a curse or two and immediately begin thinking of ways to get out of it. The piece of mail that has caused these reactions is a jury summons. Almost no one looks for

Are you as sick and tired of the constant drum beat of being told how important this election is? Tired of constantly being harassed to register and vote? Have you taken the time to consider just how much power you can wield with your vote? Election day is just one week away. I’m sure many of you, like me, are ready for this election season to be over. For more than a year we’ve been hammered, badgered, and generally harangued with the idea of how important it is to vote. How

Law enforcement has to have probable cause to get an arrest warrant, right? Can someone sue for malicious prosecution if there was not probable cause for all of the charges in a warrant? Are malicious prosecution and a Fourth Amendment violation mutually exclusive? How far can law enforcement go when it comes to arresting someone? For example, if police have probable cause to charge you with a misdemeanor, how far can they “bootstrap” that charge into something more serious?

You have the right to remain silent, correct? SCOTUS says you don’t have the right to remain silent unless you say so. Do you find it ironic that you have to speak to remain silent? Everyone knows we have a right to remain silent, correct? What if I told you that in 2013 the Supreme Court upheld a decision basically stating that is not true. You only have the right to remain silent if you verbally claim the right in the first place, otherwise, according to SCOTUS, your silenc

Do you lose your rights when you cross state lines?  Does a state have the power to ignore licenses from another state? Can Massachusetts require visitors from out of state to get their permission before carrying a firearm in their state? Can Massachusetts prosecute out-of-staters who can legally carry in their home state? That was the question before Massachusetts courts in two cases. Needless to say, when these courts agreed with the plaintiffs, the Commonwealth disagreed,

Are there limits to the powers of a federal agency? When Congress created OSHA, did they follow the Constitution? While the Supreme Court failed to take the time to consider these questions, We the People should. Was the Occupational Safety and Health Administration properly created? Was the grant of authority Congress gave the agency constitutional and valid, or did Congress create an overpowered agency to micromanage businesses throughout the United States? That is the ques

Are AR-15s the super lethal weapon it’s often described as? Does the Second Amendment mean what it says? Can a court simply state that certain arms aren’t covered by the Second Amendment without any evidence? There are plenty of myths that revolve around the Second Amendment. It’s only meant for the militia, or for hunting, or some weapons are just too dangerous, are only a few. When we read the Constitution, along with just a tiny bit of research into the Bill of Rights, the

Does the Constitution matter any more? Is there something wrong with the Constitution? Does the Constitution need to be rewritten, or just reread? I’ve spent a lot of time the last few years wondering why Americans do not celebrate Constitution Day. Then it occurred to me that we have spent so much time and effort trampling the document, along with the freedoms and liberties it’s designed to protect, We the People are simply too apathetic to celebrate the Constitution or too

It’s never fun to be pulled over by the police, especially if you are legally carrying a firearm. Does the mere legal possession of a firearm qualify as probable cause for law enforcement to search your vehicle. If an officer searches you and your vehicle due to the legal possession of a firearm, are they entitled to qualified immunity? Encountering law enforcement can be a nerve wracking situation, even if you’ve done nothing wrong. Imagine you’ve been pulled over to safely

Under what conditions can you legitimately lose your right to keep and bear arms? If you wanted to challenge federal law that prohibited your right to keep and bear arms, would you want Zackey Rahimi to be the face of your case? The case Rahimi v. United States challenged 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(8) which prohibits someone subject to a domestic violence protection order from possessing a firearm. There’s an adage in the legal profession: “Hard cases make bad law.” It can also be sai

The Supreme Court once said the Bill of Rights doesn’t apply to the states. Then again, the Supreme Court also said that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated the Bill of Rights against the states. Are either of those statements true? There are certain lies told about the Constitution that repeatedly grind into me like salt in an open wound. One of those is the repeated statement that “The Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, to