The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic

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by Mark R. Levin


  9. Charles de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, Anne M. Cohler, Basia C. Miller, and Harold S. Stone, eds., part 2, book 2, chapter 6 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).

  10. Madison, The Federalist Papers, 288.

  11. Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649, 692 (1892).

  12. Woodrow Wilson, Constitutional Government in the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 1908), 56–57.

  13. Railroad Retirement Board v. Alton R. Co., 295 U.S. 330 (1935).

  14. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935).

  15. Carter v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U.S. 238 (1936).

  16. Jones v. Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 37 (1937).

  17. Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942).

  18. James M. Landis, The Administrative Process (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1938).

  19. Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, 549 U.S. 497 (2007).

  20. Nicole v. Crain & W. Mark Crain, “The Impact of Regulatory Costs on Small Firms,” Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, September 2010, http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/The%20Impact%20of%20Regulatory%20Costs%20on%20Small%20Firms%20(Full).pdf (April 18, 2013).

  21. “Piling On: The Year in Regulation,” American Action Forum, Regulation, January 14, 2013, http://americanactionforum.org/topic/piling-year-regulation (April 18, 2013).

  22. Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., “Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State—2012 Edition,” Competitive Enterprise Institute, http://cei.org/sites/default/files/Wayne%20Crews%20-%2010,000%20Commandments%202012_0.pdf (April 18, 2013).

  23. Ibid.

  24. Brian Walsh, “Overcriminalization: An Explosion of Federal Criminal Law,” Heritage Foundation, April 27, 2011, http://www.heritage.org/research/factsheets/2011/04/overcriminalization-an-explosion-of-federal-criminal-law (April 18, 2013).

  25. Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President in the State of the Union Address,” White House, Feb. 12, 2013, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/remarks-president-state-union-address (April 18, 2013).

  26. See generally, Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. § 553 et. seq.)

  27. 5 U.S.C. §801–802.

  28. 5 U.S.C. §706.

  29. 5 U.S.C. §706.

  30. Whitman v. American Trucking Associations Inc., 531 U.S. 457, 474 (2001).

  31. Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984). The legal doctrine takes its name from this case because this was the first time this particular regulatory interpretation was applied.

  32. The Clean Air Act was officially enacted by Congress in 1963 as a research program. The 1970 amendments established the regulatory program pertaining to pollution thresholds.

  33. Clean Air Act (CAA) §165(a)(1), §169(2)(c).

  34. Clean Air Act (CAA) §169(1).

  35. 74 Fed. Reg. 55, 300-55, 303.

  36. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pub. L. No. 111-148,124 Stat. 119, to be codified as amended at scattered sections of the Internal Revenue Code and in 42 U.S.C. (2010).

  37. Peter Ferrara, The Obamacare Disaster: An Appraisal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Chicago: Heartland Institute, 2010), v.

  38. Curtis W. Copeland, “New Entities Created Pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” Congressional Research Service, July 8, 2010, http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/R41586_20110113.pdf (April 18, 2013).

  39. “Obamacare Burden Tracker,” House of Representatives Ways and Means, Education and the Workforce, and Energy and Commerce Committees, http://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/files/analysis/20120206ACATracker.pdf (April 18, 2013).

  40. Charlie Spiering, “Photo: 828 pages of new Obamacare regulations in just one day,” Washington Examiner, March 12, 2013, http://washingtonexaminer.com/photo-828-pages-of-new-obamacare-regulations-in-just-one-day/article/2524020 (April 18, 2013).

  41. “IRS aims to clarify investment income tax under healthcare law,” Reuters, Dec. 3, 2012, http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/03/us-usa-tax-irs-idUSBRE8B21HA20121203.

  42. Diane Cohen and Michael F. Cannon, “The Independent Payment Advisory Board, PPACA’s Anti-Constitutional and Authoritarian Super-Legislature,” Cato Institute, Policy Analysis, June 14, 2012, http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/independent-payment-advisory-board-ppacas-anticonstitutional-authoritarian-superlegislature (April 18, 2013).

  43. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Pub.L. 111-203, H.R. 4173.

  44. See 12 U.S.C. 5491 (2013).

  45. 12 U.S.C. 5491 et. seq. (2013).

  46. See Complaint, Competitive Enterprise Institute et. al. v. Timothy Geithner et al., http://cei.org/sites/default/files/SNB%20v%20Geithner%20-%20Complaint.PDF (April 18, 2013).

  7. An Amendment to Promote Free Enterprise

  1. U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Section 8.

  2. Raoul Berger, “Judicial Manipulation of the Commerce Clause,” 74 Texas Law Review 695, 702–703 (March, 1996) (internal citations omitted).

  3. Ibid., 704–705 (internal citations omitted).

  4. Randy E. Barnett, “The Original Meaning of the Commerce Clause,” 68 University of Chicago Law Review 101, 104 (Winter 2001) (emphasis in original).

  5. Ibid., 114–15.

  6. Ibid., 116.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid., 124.

  9. Robert H. Bork and Daniel E. Troy, “Locating the Boundaries: The Scope of Congress’s Power to Regulate Commerce,” 25 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 849, 863–864 (Summer 2002).

  10. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2006), 235.

  11. Ibid., 259.

  12. According to the historian Andrew C. McLaughlin, “the cardinal principle of the Spanish colonial policy was monopoly and seclusion.” Andrew C. McLaughlin, The Confederation and the Constitution 1783–1789 (New York: Collier Books, 1962), 71. The British, furthermore, prohibited the importation of American whale oil to promote British fishing and restricted American shipping from the British West Indies. Ibid., 60–61.

  13. Ibid., 86.

  14. As a result, the framers specifically prohibited the states from issuing bills of credit, or to “make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts” in Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution.

  15. Joseph Story, A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States, §163 (Washington, DC: Regnery Gateway, 1986), 139–40.

  16. Justice Thomas’s concurring opinion in United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 585–587 (1995), supports this understanding and provides citations to the state ratification conventions. See, e.g., Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Jonathan Elliot, ed., vol. 2 (Washington, DC: United States Congress, 1836), 57 (T. Dawes at Massachusetts convention); ibid., 336 (M. Smith at New York convention).

  17. See, e.g., Federalist 36: “Is the knowledge of local circumstances, as applied to taxation, a minute topographical acquaintance with all the mountains, rivers, streams, highways, and bypaths in each State; or is it a general acquaintance with its situation and resources . . . with the state of its agriculture, commerce, manufactures . . . with the nature of its products and consumptions . . . with the different degrees and kinds of its wealth, property, and industry?” The Federalist Papers, 188 (emphasis added). Hamilton distinguished between agriculture and commerce in Federalist 60: “The several States are in various degrees addicted to agriculture and commerce. In most, if not all of them, agriculture is predominant. In a few of them, however, commerce nearly divides its empire, and in most of them has a considerable share of influence.” Ibid., 334. For a comprehensive analysis of the original meaning of the Commerce Clause and its terminology, see Randy E. Barnett, “The Original Meaning of the Commerce Clause,” 68 University of Chicago Law Review 101 (
Winter 2001).

  18. The report from the participants, including Hamilton and Madison, stated that “the power of regulating trade is of such comprehensive extent, and will enter so far into the general System of the federal government, that to give it efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning its precise nature and limits, may require a correspondent adjustment of other parts of the Federal System.” “Proceedings of Commissioners to Remedy Defects of the Federal Government, Sep. 11, 1786,” in The Debates on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, 2nd ed., Jonathan Elliot, ed., vol. 1 (New York: Burt Franklin, 1888), 118.

  19. James Madison, “Vices of the Political System of the United States,” in Writings, Jack N. Rakove, ed. (New York: Library of America, 1999), 71.

  20. James Madison, Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1985), 14.

  21. Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, 63.

  22. Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1, 190 (1824).

  23. Ibid., 194–95 (emphasis added).

  24. Railroad Retirement Bd. v. Alton R. Co., 295 U.S. 330, 374 (U.S. 1935).

  25. A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495, 546 (1935).

  26. Carter v. Carter Coal Co., 298 U.S. 238, 308 (1936).

  27. NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1, 37 (1937).

  28. Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942).

  29. Ibid., 128.

  30. Ibid., 125.

  31. Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183, 194 (1968).

  32. Ibid., 198.

  33. Perez v. United States, 402 U.S. 146, 154 (1971).

  34. Ibid., 157.

  35. United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 558–559 (1995) (internal citations omitted).

  36. Ibid., 619–20 (internal citations omitted).

  37. Ibid., 614.

  38. Ibid., 608.

  39. Ibid., 574.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Berger, “Judicial Manipulation of the Commerce Clause,” 715 (internal citations omitted).

  42. United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598, 617–618 (2000).

  43. Ibid., 658–59.

  44. National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. __ (2012) (internal citations omitted).

  45. As an important aside, observe how judicial review today is mostly exercised to endorse expanded federal governmental authority.

  46. Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, 40th anniversary ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), 8.

  8. An Amendment to Protect Private Property

  1. John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government, Peter Laslett, ed., §138 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 360.

  2. William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 3rd ed., Thomas M. Cooley, ed., vol. 1 (Chicago: Callaghan, 1884), 138.

  3. Ibid.

  4. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers, No. 54 (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2006), 305.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Gouverneur Morris, “Political Enquiries,” University of Chicago, The Founders’ Constitution, Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds., ch. 16, doc. 8, http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s8.html (April 18, 2013).

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Virginia Declaration of Rights §1 (1776).

  10. John Adams, “Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States,” The Founders’ Constitution, ch. 16, doc. 15, http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s15.html.

  11. U.S. Constitution, Fifth Amendment.

  12. See Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003, 1028 (1992).

  13. Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393, 415 (1922).

  14. Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104, 124 (1978).

  15. Ibid.

  16. Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003, 1017 n. 8 (1992).

  17. Concrete Pipe and Products of California, Inc. v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern California, 508 U.S. 602, 645 (1993).

  18. Lingle v. Chevron U.S.A. Inc., 544 U.S. 528, 538–539 (2005) (citing in part Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104, 124 (1978)).

  19. “Executive Order 12630: Governmental actions and interference with constitutionally protected property rights,” 53 Fed. Reg. 8859 (March 18, 1988).

  20. Report, “Regulatory Takings Implementation of Executive Order on Government Actions Affecting Private Property Use,” Government Accountability Office, September 2003, http://www.gao.gov/assets/240/239832.pdf (April 18, 2013).

  9. An Amendment to Grant the States Authority to Directly Amend the Constitution

  1. U.S. Constitution, Art. V.

  2. “Measures Proposed to Amend the Constitution,” United States Senate, http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/three_column_table/measures_proposed_to_amend_constitution.htm (April 18, 2013).

  3. Woodrow Wilson, Constitutional Government in the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 1908), 16.

  4. Ibid., 57.

  5. U.S. Constitution, Tenth Amendment.

  6. Mark R. Levin, Liberty and Tyranny (New York: Threshold Editions, 2009), 56.

  7. Ibid. (citing Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. 539 [1842] and Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 U.S. 393 [1857]).

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

  9. Charles Paul Freund, “Dixiecrats Triumphant: The Menacing Mr. Wilson,” Reason, Dec. 18, 2002, http://reason.com/archives/2002/12/18/dixiecrats-triumphant (April 18, 2013).

  10. Abraham Lincoln, “Speech at Lewistown, Illinois, Aug. 17, 1858,” in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 2 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 546–47.

  11. William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens, “Freedom in the 50 States: Third Edition (2013),” Mercatus Center, April 2013, http://freedominthe50states.org/download/Freedom_50_States_2013_summary.pdf (April 11, 2013).

  12. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2006), 213–14.

  13. Ibid., 259.

  14. “Massachusetts Ratification Convention, Feb. 6, 1788,” in Founding America: Documents from the Revolution to the Bill of Rights (New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006), 591.

  15. Ibid., 592–93.

  16. Ibid., “Virginia Ratification Convention, June 27, 1788,” 594.

  17. Ibid., 595–97.

  18. Ibid., “New York Ratification Convention, July 26, 1788,” 601–604.

  19. James Madison, “Speech to Congress Proposing Constitutional Amendments,” in Writings, Jack N. Rakove, ed. (New York: Library of America, 1999), 438.

  20. Ibid., 449.

  21. Mark R. Levin, Ameritopia (New York: Threshold Editions, 2011), 185–86.

  22. Levin , Liberty and Tyranny, 193.

  23. Madison, The Federalist Papers, 288.

  24. U.S. Constitution, Art. V.

  25. Madison, Writings, 364.

  10. An Amendment to Grant the States Authority to Check Congress

  1. Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, vol. 3, §1821, University of Chicago, The Founders’ Constitution, Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds., http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a5s12.html (April 19, 2013).

  2. Peter James Stanlis, Edmund Burke: The Enlightenment and Revolution (Edison, NJ: Transaction, 1991), 213, citing Edmund Burke, “A Letter to a Noble Lord,” in Works, vol. 5 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1904), 186.

  3. John Adams, “Letter to Thomas Jefferson, November 13, 1815,” in The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams, Lester J. Cappon, ed. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1959), 456.

  4. Thomas Jefferson, “Letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787,” in The Debate on the Constitution (New York: Library of America, 1993), 213.

  5. Peter Roff, “Pelosi: Pass Health Reform So Yo
u Can Find Out What’s In It,” U.S. News & World Report, Politics blog, March 9, 2010, http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2010/03/09/pelosi-pass-health-reform-so-you-can-find-out-whats-in-it (April 19, 2013).

  6. U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Section 7, Cl. 2.

  7. Draft Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, Landmark Legal Foundation, http://www.landmarklegal.org/uploads/Landmark%20Complaint%20(00013086-2).pdf (April 18, 2013).

  8. Shailagh Murray, “On Hill, Clinton gives a health care pep talk,” Washington Post, Nov. 11, 2009, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2009-11-11/politics/36893630_1_health-care-bill-bill-clinton-senate-floor (April 19, 2013).

  9. “Dodd-Frank, Still Wrong for America,” Heritage Foundation, Fact Sheet 108, July 17, 2012, http://www.heritage.org/research/factsheets/2012/07/dodd-frank-still-wrong-for-america (April 19, 2013).

  10. Amy Payne, “Morning Bell: Dodd-Frank Financial Regulations Strangling Economy,” Heritage Foundation, The Foundry blog, July 20, 2012, http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/20/morning-bell-dodd-frank-financial-regulations-strangling-economy (April 19, 2013).

  11. Ammon Simon, “Dodd-Frank at Two: Bad for Business and the Constitution,” National Review Online, Bench Memos, July 25, 2012, http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/312267/dodd-frank-two-bad-business-and-constitution-ammon-simon (April 19, 2013).

  12. Jonathan Weisman, “Spending Measure Not a Law, Suit Says,” Washington Post, March 22, 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/21/AR2006032101763.html (April 19, 2013).

  13. S.47: Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s47/text (April 19, 2013).

  14. Eugene Volokh, “Senate Considering Extending Statute That Led to Unconstitutional Prosecution for Twitter Messages That Criticized Religious Leader,” Volokh Conspiracy, April 24, 2012, http://www.volokh.com/2012/04/24/senate-considering-extending-statute-that-led-to-unconstitutional-prosecution-for-twitter-messages-that-criticized-religious-leader (April 19, 2013); Wendy Kaminer, “What’s Wrong with the Violence Against Women Act,” Atlantic, March 19, 2012, http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/whats-wrong-with-the-violence-against-women-act/254678 (April 19, 2013); Hans Bader, “Troubling Provisions Being Added to the Violence Against Women Act: Due Process Rights Threatened,” Competitive Enterprise Institute, OpenMarket.org, March 23, 2012, http://www.openmarket.org/2012/03/23/troubling-provisions-being-added-to-the-violence-against-women-act-due-process-rights-threatened (April 19, 2013).

 

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