Constitution

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Rare Copy of Constitution in Filing Cabinet Sells for $9M

Document said to be the only privately owned copy of the US Constitution was printed 237 years ago

(Newser) - A rare copy of the US Constitution printed 237 years ago and sent to the states to be ratified was sold for $9 million at an auction Thursday evening in North Carolina. Brunk Auctions sold the document, the only copy of its type thought to be privately owned, at a...

Just 8 of These Exist. We the People Can Now Bid on It

Minimum bid for rare 237-year-old copy of US Constitution found in NC filing cabinet: $1M

(Newser) - Historical document appraiser and collector Seth Kaller spreads a broadsheet of paper across a desk. It's in good enough condition that he can handle it, carefully, with clean, bare hands. There are just a few creases and tiny discolorations, even though it's just a few weeks shy of...

Could Trump Pardon Himself? It May Hinge on Single Word
Could Trump Pardon Himself?
It May Hinge on Single Word
in case you missed it
Nov 29, 2020 10:25 AM CST

Could Trump Pardon Himself? It May Hinge on Single Word

That word is 'grant,' explains Eric L. Muller in the 'Atlantic'

(Newser) - Could President Trump pardon himself before he leaves office? He faces possible liability on bank and tax issues, and a former prosecutor in the Robert Mueller investigation makes the case in a New York Times op-ed that he should get hit with obstruction charges, too. A president, of course, can...

Kansas Court Delivers Big Victory for Abortion Rights

Justices say state constitution protects those rights

(Newser) - Kansas' highest court ruled for the first time Friday that the state constitution protects abortion rights and blocked a first-in-the-nation ban on a common second trimester method for ending pregnancies. The state Supreme Court's ruling represented a big victory for abortion rights supporters in a state with a Republican-controlled...

Fox Host Gets Rebuke Over Hijab Comments

Jeanine Pirro mused whether Rep. Ilhan Omar's headwear may be 'antithetical' to Constitution

(Newser) - Freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar has been at the center of controversy over remarks she recently made that some call anti-Semitic, but a Fox News host's comments on Omar have themselves earned what CNN Business calls a "rare rebuke" from the network. On her program Saturday, Jeanine Pirro wondered...

Court: 'In God We Trust' on Money Is Constitutional

Satanist's lawsuit chucked out

(Newser) - A federal court has ruled that printing "In God We Trust" on US currency doesn't amount to a religious endorsement and therefore doesn't violate the US Constitution. The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reports the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago made the ruling in a...

Trump's Attacks on Sessions Threaten Our Rule of Law
Ken Starr:
Trump Needs
a Lesson
From Nixon
OPINION
Jul 27, 2017 10:15 AM CDT

Ken Starr: Trump Needs a Lesson From Nixon

'Profoundly misguided' attacks on Jeff Sessions threaten our rule of law, Starr writes

(Newser) - Kenneth Starr headed the investigation that ultimately led to President Bill Clinton's impeachment. That's an important fact to remember given that Starr says President Trump's recent attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions are "one of the most outrageous—and profoundly misguided—courses of presidential conduct I...

Judge Stevens: 5 Words Can Fix 2nd Amendment

Retired Supreme Court justice proposes a remedy

(Newser) - Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens argues in the Washington Post that the debate over the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms can be settled with the addition of five words. Here they are, inserted into the amendment in bold:
  • “A well regulated Militia, being necessary
...

GOP Backs Strict Abortion Stance: No Exceptions

Democrats calling it the 'Akin plank'

(Newser) - The Republican Party platform is set to support a Constitutional amendment banning abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest cases. Republican leaders ratified the party stance at a meeting today ahead of next week's convention, where the measure is all but guaranteed for final approval, CNN reports. "...

Medical Marijuana Backers Sue Federal Government

Crackdown in California violates 10th Amendment, they say

(Newser) - Here's one new thing the backers of legal pot have in common with the Tea Party: love of the 10th Amendment. A group that backs medical marijuana has sued the US attorney general, arguing that the recent crackdown by the feds in California infringes on states' rights outlined in...

American Atheists Sue to Remove Ground Zero Cross
 Atheists Sue Over 9/11 Cross 
Jul 28, 2011 4:02 AM CDT

Atheists Sue Over 9/11 Cross

Group wants cross removed from Ground Zero memorial

(Newser) - The famous World Trade Center cross doesn't belong at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, according to American Atheists. The group has filed suit to yank the planned cross, a 17-foot T-joint found upright in the rubble of 9/11, arguing that it violates the Constitution by promoting Christianity...

High Schooler to Michele Bachmann: Let's Debate Constitution and US History
High Schooler to Bachmann:
Let's Debate History
in case you missed it
May 15, 2011 7:49 AM CDT

High Schooler to Bachmann: Let's Debate History

Teen calls her grasp of civics 'grossly distorted'

(Newser) - Concerned that Michele Bachmann’s take on US civics is “factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted,” a New Jersey teen has challenged the Minnesota representative to a debate on US history and the Constitution, the Minnesota Independent reports. “The frequent inability you have shown to accurately...

Congress Must Stop Ignoring Article 1, Section 8

If Congress had debated recent wars, we'd have saved trillions: Walter Rodgers

(Newser) - Congressional Republicans have been hard at work cutting a few million in funding from NPR; but if they’d just played by the rules a decade ago, they could have saved at least $4 trillion, writes Walter Rodgers in the Christian Science Monitor . That's one estimate of how much the...

Fight Brewing Over 'Anchor Baby' Citizenship

States plan to introduce different birth certificates for children of illegals

(Newser) - The biggest immigration battle of 2011 is likely to focus on how exactly an American is defined. A coalition of lawmakers from Arizona and about a dozen other states is fighting to deny citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants . They want to take the "anchor babies" issue all...

Scalia: Constitution Doesn't Prohibit Sex Discrimination

Supreme Court justice raises ire with 14th Amendment interpretation

(Newser) - The 14th Amendment's equal protection clause doesn't prohibit discrimination against women and gays, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. "Nobody ever thought that's what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that" when the amendment was proposed in 1868, the Reagan appointee tells California Lawyer. "If the current...

In GOP-Led House, the Constitution Will Be God

Every single bill must cite passage authorizing legislation

(Newser) - When Republicans take over the House next week, they'll christen the new session with a dramatic reading ... of the Constitution. Apparently, the 4,543-word document has never—in 221 years—been read aloud in the chamber. But the GOP is determined to center the 112th Congress around the document when...

Let Americans Keep Electing Their Senators
Let Americans Keep Electing Their Senators
OPINION
Nov 24, 2010 1:40 PM CST

Let Americans Keep Electing Their Senators

Essay: Campaign to repeal 17th Amendment is misguided

(Newser) - The 17th Amendment allows Americans to choose their senators directly, rather than have them picked by state legislatures—and some Tea Partiers and a particular jurist named Antonin Scalia want it gone. (He says states' rights have been on the decline since it became law in 1913.) Bad idea,...

O'Donnell: Constitution Separates Church, State?

Delaware Tea Partier doesn't know the First Amendment

(Newser) - Christine O'Donnell apparently doesn't subscribe to the view that the Constitution guarantees the separation of church and state, CBS News reports. "Where in the Constitution is (that)?" she asked Senate candidate Chris Coons during a debate over whether schools should be allowed to teach intelligent design. It prompted laughs...

How to Kill the Filibuster With 51 Votes

By using, or almost using, the 'constitutional option'

(Newser) - The 59 or so senators growing weary of the GOP's current penchant for filibustering are increasingly looking to an option that would allow them to revamp the chamber's filibuster rules with only 51 votes—which Democrats have—rather than 67, which they most certainly don't. The "constitutional option" would...

Soldiers, Cops Form Backbone of Growing Militia Movement
Soldiers, Cops Form Backbone of Growing Militia Movement
INVESTIGATION
Feb 22, 2010 8:51 PM CST

Soldiers, Cops Form Backbone of Growing Militia Movement

'Oath Keepers' prepare for Obama martial law

(Newser) - A growing militia movement convinced that President Obama will soon find an excuse to impose martial law on the US is finding scores of recruits from within the country’s law-enforcement and military community, Justine Sharrock writes in an investigative piece for Mother Jones . The “Oath Keepers” group has...

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