Constitutional Topics

Five Rights You Think Are in the Constitution

You have a constitutional right to privacy. Everyone knows that. Except the Constitution never mentions privacy. Not once. Not in any amendment, clause, or footnote scribbled in the margins by a Founder having second thoughts. The right exists because nine Supreme Court justices in 1965 decided it...

Presidents Have Been Stealing From the Treasury For 200 Years. Nobody Stops Them.

President Trump announced he’d send $2,000 checks to Americans funded by tariff revenue. No Congressional appropriation. No legislative authorization. Just an executive decision to redistribute tax dollars and a prediction that Congress would either approve it or stay silent. The announcement...

The 7 Constitutional Amendments That Almost Happened: What American’s Failed Changes Reveal About Power

The Equal Rights Amendment passed Congress in 1972 with overwhelming bipartisan support. It needed ratification from 38 states. Within five years, 35 states had ratified. Just three more states and women’s constitutional equality would have been guaranteed. Fifty-three years later, the ERA still...

Poverty as Probable Cause? Proposed Drug Testing for SNAP Recipients Faces Significant Constitutional Obstacles

Representative David Rouzer introduced H.R. 372 in January requiring states to drug test SNAP food stamp recipients quarterly or lose federal funding. The bill mandates testing for anyone arrested for drug offenses in the past five years, screens others for “risk of substance abuse,” and denies...

The Constitutional Rundown About Medals of Freedom And Controversial Recipients

The Presidential Medal of Freedom represents America’s highest civilian honor. Presidents award it to individuals who’ve made exceptional contributions to national security, world peace, cultural endeavors, or public service. And the Constitution doesn’t authorize it at all. The medal exists...

From Generals to Ideologues

Donald Trump has appointed six people to lead the Department of Defense across his two non-consecutive presidencies. The progression from his first term to his second reveals a dramatic shift in priorities – from prioritizing military experience and institutional credibility to selecting...

Government Shutdowns Explained: A Historical Guide to Their Causes and Consequences

When the clock strikes midnight on September 30, the United States government may, once again, shut down. The word “shutdown” has become a familiar part of our political vocabulary, a recurring threat in our bitterly divided politics. But what does it actually mean? How did we get to a place...

On its 238th Anniversary, a Look at the Constitution’s Creation: Trump’s Vision vs. the Founders’ Reality

This week, America marks the 238th anniversary of the signing of its most sacred civic document. In a new presidential proclamation, the U.S. Constitution is hailed as a “legendary charter” that codified “eternal truths.” But the story of the Constitution’s birth in the hot, stuffy summer...

The State Of Free Speech In America

It feels like the rules are changing. A protest that was once legal is now a crime. A bad joke that was once edgy is now a fireable offense. A political group you disagree with is suddenly labeled “extremist.” From college campuses in America to the halls of government in Europe and the streets...

From Abolitionists to Activists: A History of Violent Attacks on the First Amendment

The shocking attack on Charlie Kirk on a university campus feels like a uniquely modern horror, a symptom of our bitterly divided times. But the act of using violence to silence a political voice is, tragically, not new. It is part of a long and bloody thread that runs through the American story....

The American presidency is an office of immense power, but it is not a throne. The Constitution, through its brilliant and deliberate system of checks and balances, places firm limits on the executive. Yet throughout our history, some presidents have strained against those limits, testing the very...

You Can Thank a Supreme Court Showdown for Your Labor Day Weekend

As you fire up the grill this Labor Day and enjoy the last long weekend of summer, here’s a thought to go with your burger: where did your weekend actually come from? It wasn’t a gift from a generous boss or a natural feature of the calendar. The American weekend, and the 40-hour workweek that...

Who Decides ‘Presidential Fitness’? What Happens When a President is Unable to Serve

It is the most delicate and terrifying question in American governance: What happens if the President, the most powerful person in the world, is no longer mentally or physically capable of leading? Recent public concerns over the health of both former President Joe Biden and, more quietly, the...

3 Times the Supreme Court Admitted It Was Wrong

The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of American law. Its decisions are etched into the stone of legal precedent, shaping the nation for generations. But what happens when the guardian of our Constitution admits that it got the Constitution profoundly wrong? While rare, these moments of...

Federalism for Beginners: A Guide to the Tug-of-War Between the States and Washington

A president threatens to federalize a city’s police force. States legalize marijuana while federal law forbids it. Governors sue the administration over an environmental rule. Every day, the headlines are filled with stories that reveal a fundamental, deliberate, and often-fierce conflict at the...

The Four Most Contentious Presidential Elections in U.S. History, Explained

Americans often worry about the stability of the next election. But our constitutional system has already been tested by electoral chaos four separate times in its history, pushing the nation to the very brink. These are not just dusty stories from a history book. They are urgent lessons in how the...

3 Powers A Presidents Doesn’t Actually Have (But People Think He Does)

The American Presidency is the most powerful office on Earth. A single individual can command armies, negotiate with world leaders, and shape the course of history. But in our modern, often-heated political discourse, the immense power of the office can lead to a fundamental misunderstanding of its...

The Death of States’ Rights? A President’s “Novel Take” on the Constitution

In a social media post on Monday, the President of the United States made one of the most explicit and constitutionally radical claims of his time in office. Announcing a new push against mail-in ballots and voting machines, he declared that the states are “merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal...

A Brief History Of Gerrymandering: Why Your Vote Might Not Matter

In 1812, Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signed off on a new state senate district so bizarrely shaped that his opponents famously said it looked like a mythical salamander. A local newspaper cartoonist combined the two, and the “Gerry-mander” was born. For over 200 years, this dark art...

Should a President have the power to revoke the citizenship of a political opponent?

Is your American citizenship a permanent, unassailable right, or is it a privilege the government can revoke if it decides you are no longer worthy? This is not a theoretical question. This week, the President of the United States declared he was giving “serious consideration to taking away”...