Author Archive | Randy Barnett

The New York Times’ online forum Room For Debate has a remarkably fair and balanced discussion of the constitutionality of the health care bill by Jack M. Balkin (Yale Law School), Abbe R. Gluck (Columbia Law School), David B. Rivkin and Lee A. Casey (counsel in the Florida lawsuit), James F. Blumstein, Vanderbilt Law School, […]

Thanks for all the comments on the two drafts of potential constitutional amendments. My post was stimulated by my reading this wonderful book on the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, which is a really remarkable and counter-intuitive saga. Every time I have dabbled in this sort of enterprise I gain renewed respect for the framers […]

Thanks to readers for their comments on the proposal I posted earlier. Having read them, I am now curious about reader reaction to a more structural approach to restoring constitutional federalism. FEDERALISM RESTORATION AMENDMENT Section 1. The legislative power of Congress shall not be construed to include mandating, regulating, or prohibiting the private health insurance […]

The Freedom Vigil will be held on Saturday evening at 9:00pm in Senate Park on Constitution between New Jersey and Delaware very close to Union Station metro (click link for Google map). Details are here. Bring your glow sticks (or cell phone).

Nearly one year ago I proposed a Federalism Amendment in the Wall Street Journal followed four weeks later by a Bill of Federalism containing ten amendments, which appeared on Forbes.com. This has led me to hear from hundreds of citizens, and state legislators from around the country, about the pros and cons of constitutional amendments […]

On Saturday night, I’ll be attending a pretty cool event on the Capitol Mall. It is called “Government grows, but freedom glows!” The organizers want everyone to show up at 9pm and light glow sticks “to cut through the darkness with a glowing demonstration of liberty.” They describe the event as “A peaceful, silent protest […]

I just finished a live Q & A on WashingtonPost.com following up on my Washington Post column yesterday on the constitutional issues raised by the health insurance bill. It was pretty demanding to do it in real time, so please forgive any statements made in haste, but you might find it interesting. It is here.

As Jonathan notes below, I was invited to write a piece on “Is health-care reform constitutional?” for the Outlook opinion section of today’s Washington Post. For the home page, the editors picked the pithy title, “Commerce Claws.” Here is how it begins: With the House set to vote on health-care legislation, the congressional debate on […]

On Wednesday March 10th, I will be commenting on the oral argument in McDonald v. Chicago in a speech at Florida International University law school in Miami. The event is open to the public and will be held at noon in room 2002 of the Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall. I also have upcoming Federalist Society student […]

Yes, you read that right: the pocket. From the BBC (yes, you read that right too): To begin with, the definition of the word ‘pocket’ states that it is ‘a small baglike attachment’. The reason for this particular definition is that the pocket was not originally sewn into garments as it is today. In fact, […]

Yesterday, Orin wrote: But unless you believe, as does my co-blogger Randy, that the Constitution if properly construed mandates libertarianism o’er the land. . . . Hey Orin. Given that you insist you have no expert view on the original meaning of the Privileges or Immunities Clause, how do you know that Richard L. Aynes, […]