The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic (26 page)

ALSO BY MARK R. LEVIN

Ameritopia

Liberty and Tyranny

Rescuing Sprite

Men in Black

1. Restoring the American Republic

1
. Alexis de Tocqueville,
Democracy in America
, Henry Reeve, trans., Phillips Bradley, ed., vol. 1 (New York: Library of America, 2004), 319.

2
. Ibid., 329.

3
. “Obama: We are 5 days away from FUNDAMENTALLy [
sic
] transforming America,” uploaded Oct. 31, 2008,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cqN4NIEtOY
(April 5, 2013).

4
. Edward Felker, “Obama vows to be aggressive with regulation if Congress doesn’t act,”
Washington Guardian
, Energy Guardian, Feb. 13, 2013,
http://www.washingtonguardian.com/one-tango
(April 5, 2013).

5
. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay,
The Federalist Papers
(New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2006), 277–78 (emphasis in original).

6
. Ibid., 428.

7
. 
Dred Scott v. Sandford
, 60 U.S. 393 (1856).

8
. 
Plessy v. Ferguson
, 163 U.S. 537 (1896).

9
. 
Korematsu v. United States
, 323 U.S. 214 (1944).

10
. “Fiscal Year 2013, Historical Tables, Budget of the U.S. Government,” Office of Management and Budget,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2013/assets/hist.pdf
(March 17, 2013).

11
. Ibid.

12
. “CBO: Debt will be $7 trillion larger by 2023,”
Daily Caller
, Feb. 6, 2013,
http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/06/cbo-debt-to-increase-7-trillion-by-2023/
(April 5, 2013).

13
. “Alert 496: Alert GAAP-Based U.S. Budget Deficit—Actual 2012 Federal Budget Deficit Hit $6.9 Trillion,” American Business Analytics & Research LLC, Jan. 17, 2013,
http://www.shadowstats.com/article/no-496-alert-gaap-based-us-budget-deficit
(March 17, 2013).

14
. Detlev Schlicter, “Bubble trouble: Is there an end to endless quantitative easing?” Feb. 22, 2013,
http://detlevschlicter.com/2013/02/bubble-trouble-is-there-an-end-to-endless-quantitative-easing/
(April 5, 2013).

15
. Editorial, “Mrs. Pelosi’s VAT—The Speaker floats a middle-class tax hike,”
Wall Street Journal
, Oct. 8, 2009,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703298004574457512007010416.html
(March 17, 2013).

16
. Elizabeth MacDonald, “Beware of Congress’s Threat to Tax 401Ks,” Fox Business, Oct. 31, 2008,
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2008/10/31/beware-congresss-threat-tax-ks
(April 5, 2013).

17
. Tocqueville,
Democracy in America
, 113.

18
. Madison,
The Federalist
, 75.

19
. Ibid., 259.

20
. Ibid., 267.

21
. U.S. Constitution, Art. V.

22
. James Madison,
Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
(Athens: Ohio University Press, 1985), 33.

23
. Ibid., 105.

24
. Ibid., 649.

25
. Ibid.

26
. Ibid., 610.

27
. Madison,
The Federalist
, 246.

28
. Robert G. Natelson, “The State-Application-and-Convention Method of Amending the Constitution: The Founding Era Vision,” 29
Thomas M. Cooley Law Review
9 (2011).

29
. The state legislatures can recommend specific language or amendments, but cannot seek to impose them through the application process as Article V empowers the delegates to the convention to propose amendments, which the states subsequently consider for ratification. The applications from the states must also be similar in subject area to reasonably conclude that two-thirds of the states are calling for a convention to address the same matters. See ibid.

30
. Madison,
Notes on Debates
, 649.

31
. Hamilton,
The Federalist
, 486.

2. An Amendment to Establish Term Limits for Members of Congress

1
. “Historical Elections, Election Stats, 2010 cycle,” Center for Responsive Politics, Opensecrets.org,
http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/elec_stats.php?cycle=2010
(April 18, 2013).

2
. “Historical Elections, Election Stats, 2008 cycle,” Center for Responsive Politics, Opensecrets.org,
http://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/elec_stats.php?cycle=2008
(April 18, 2013).

3
. Ronald Rotunda, “A Commentary on the Constitutionality of Term Limits,” in
The Politics and Law of Term Limits
, Edward H. Crane and Roger Pilon, eds. (Washington, DC: Cato, 1994), 141.

4
. Mark P. Petracca, “Restoring ‘The University in Rotation’: An Essay in Defense of Term Limitation,” in
The Politics and Law of Term Limits
, Edward H. Crane and Roger Pilon, eds. (Washington DC: Cato, 1994), 74.

5
. Pennsylvania Constitution, Section 8—September 28, 1776,
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/pa08.asp
(April 18, 2013).

6
. Pennsylvania Constitution, Section 19—September 28, 1776,
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/pa08.asp
(April 18, 2013).

7
. Articles of Confederation, Art. V, cl. 2,
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/artconf.asp
(April 18, 2013).

8
. James Madison,
Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
(Athens: Ohio University Press, 1985), 52–53.

9
. Petracca, “Restoring ‘The University in Rotation,’ ” 60.

10
. Thomas Jefferson, “Letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787,” in
Memoir, Correspondence and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson
, 2nd ed., Thomas Jefferson Randolph, ed., vol. 2 (Boston: Gray & Bowen, 1830),
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/7/8/16782/16782-h/16782-h.htm#link2H_4_0119
(April 18, 2013).

11
. Jefferson, “Letter to Samuel Adams, February 26, 1800,” in
Memoir, Correspondence and Miscellanies
,
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16783/16783-h/16783-h.htm#link2H_4_0258
(April 18, 2013).

12
. Petracca, “Restoring ‘The University in Rotation,’ ” 69–70.

13
. U.S. Constitution, Twenty-Second Amendment.

14
. Ibid.

15
. Ibid.

16
. 
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875
, Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 1st Congress, 1st Session, July 16, 1789
(Library of Congress), 668–71,
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llac&fileName=001/llac001.db&recNum=335
.

17
. Ibid., 671–74,
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llac&fileName=001/llac001.db&recNum=337
.

18
. Ida A. Brudnick, “Salaries of Members of Congress: Recent Actions and Historical Tables,” Congressional Research Service, Jan. 15, 2013,
http://www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crs-publish.cfm?pid=‘*2%404P%5C%5B%3A%22%40%20%20%0A
(April 18, 2013).

19
. “States with gubernatorial term limits,”
Ballotpedia
,
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/States_with_gubernatorial_term_limits
(April 18, 2013).

20
. Virginia Constitution, Art. V, Section 1.

21
. “Utah Set to Repeal Term Limits,” National Conference of State Legislatures, March 26, 2003,
http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/legisdata/utah-set-to-repeal-term-limits.aspx
(April 18, 2013).

22
. “The Term Limited States,” National Conference of State Legislatures, January 2013,
http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/legisdata/chart-of-term-limits-states.aspx
(April 18, 2013).

23
. Madison,
Notes of Debates
, 371.

24
. Frank Newport, “Congress Approval Stagnant at Low Level,” Gallup, Politics, March 11, 2013,
http://www.gallup.com/poll/161210/congress-approval-stagnant-low-level.aspx
(April 18, 2013).

3. An Amendment to Restore the Senate

1
. U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Section 3.

2
. James Madison,
Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
(Athens: Ohio University Press, 1985), 31.

3
. Ibid., 40

4
. Ibid., 41.

5
. Ibid.

6
. Ibid. Delegates from Vermont and New Hampshire had not yet arrived and taken their seats at the convention. Rhode Island chose to send no delegates to the convention and did not, in fact, ratify the Constitution until May 29, 1790. The rules the convention adopted prior to beginning deliberations required states to vote as a unit. If a majority of delegates from a state were unable to come to an agreement, that state’s vote would be counted as divided.

7
. Ibid.

8
. Ibid., 41–42.

9
. Ibid., 42.

10
. 
Debates in the Several State Conventions
, Jonathon Elliott, ed., vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1901), 398.

11
. Ibid., 399.

12
. Ibid.

13
. Ibid.

14
. Rufus King,
The Life & Correspondence of Rufus King
, Charles R. King, ed., vol. 1 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894), 596.

15
. Ibid., 597.

16
. Ibid. (emphasis in original).

17
. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay,
The Federalist Papers
(New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2006), 209.

18
. Ibid., 213.

19
. Pauline Maier,
Ratification—The People Debate the Constitution, 1787–1788
(New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2010), 175.

20
. Ibid., 177.

21
. James Madison, “Speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention in Defense of the Constitution,” in
Writings
, Jack N. Rakove, ed. (New York: Library of America, 1999), 362–63.

22
. Jay S. Bybee, “Ulysses at the Mast: Democracy, Federalism, and the Siren’s song of the Seventeenth Amendment,” 91
Northwestern University Law Review
500, 520 (1997). The practice of state legislatures issuing instructions to senators on pending legislation became almost ubiquitous before the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment. In some cases, senators who believed that they could not, in good conscience, follow their instructions resigned or refused to stand for reelection later on. Suggestions were made by a few delegates to state conventions (at other times in congressional debates over changing the way senators were chosen) that it might be appropriate to give state legislatures the power to recall senators who failed to follow instructions, but the potential for malfeasance and abuse of that authority were self-evident and the subject was quickly abandoned. The only power the state legislature would have would be the right to deny the senator reelection.

23
. Ibid., 536.

24
. 
Congressional Quarterly, Congressional Record
(various sources in each).

25
. Ibid.

26
. Brandon Stewart, “List of 27 States Suing Over Obamacare,” Heritage Foundation, The Foundry blog, Jan. 17, 2011,
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/01/17/list-of-states-suing-over-obama care/
(April 15, 2013).

27
. “Republicans Make Historic Gains in State Legislatures, Pick Up Hundreds of Seats,” FoxNews.com, Nov. 3, 2010,
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/03/republicans-make-historic-gains-state-legislatures-pick-hundreds-seats
(April 15, 2013).

28
. Sarah Torre, “Americans Continue to Oppose Obamacare’s HHS Mandate,” Heritage Foundation, The Foundry blog, April 11, 2013,
http://blog.heritage.org/2013/04/11/americans-continue-to-oppose-obamacares-hhs-mandate
(April 15, 2013).

4. An Amendment to Establish Term Limits for Supreme Court Justices and Super-Majority Legislative Override

1
. U.S. Constitution, Art. III, Section 1.

2
. U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Section 2.

3
. James Madison,
Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
(Athens: Ohio University Press, 1985), 61.

4
. Ibid., 63.

5
. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay,
The Federalist Papers
(New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2006), 428–29.

6
. Robert Yates, “Brutus Essay No. 11,” in
Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates
, Ralph Ketcham, ed. (New York: Signet Classic, 2003), 293.

7
. Yates, “Brutus Essay No. 15,” in
Anti-Federalist Papers
, 308.

8
. 
Marbury v. Madison
, 5 U.S. 137, 178 (1803).

9
. Thomas Jefferson, “Letter to Abigail Adams, September 11, 1804,” in
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
, Albert Ellery Bergh, ed., vol. 11 (Washington, DC: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States, 1904), 50–51.