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.
10. Thomas Jefferson, “Letter to William Charles Jarvis, September 28, 1820,” in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Ellery Bergh, ed., vols. 15–16 (Washington, DC: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association of the United States, 1907), 277.
11. Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857).
12. Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, vol. 1 (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1939), 132.
13. Woodrow Wilson, Constitutional Government in the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 1908), 16.
14. Paul A. Rahe, “Progressive Racism,” National Review Online, April 11, 2013, http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/345274/progressive-racism-paul-rahe (April 18, 2013).
15. Robin L. West, Re-Imagining Justice: Progressive Interpretations of Formal Equality, Rights, and the Rule of Law (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2003), 9.
16. Franklin D. Roosevelt, “State of the Union Message to Congress, January 11, 1944,” http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/address_text.html (April 18, 2013).
17. Bruce Ackerman, “Ackerman on Renewing the Promise of National Citizenship,” March 15, 2005, American Constitution Society, ACS blog, http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/ackerman-on-renewing-the-promise-of-national-citizenship (April 18, 2013).
18. Louis Michael Seidman, “Let’s Give Up on the Constitution,” New York Times, Dec. 30, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/opinion/lets-give-up-on-the-constitution.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2& (April 18, 2013).
19. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “Lecture: Fifty-first Cardozo Memorial Lecture—Affirmative Action: An International Human Rights Dialogue,” 21 Cardozo Law Review 253, 282 (1999).
20. Mark R. Levin and Andrew P. Zappia, “Seek and Ye Shall Find—Ginsburg’s Philosophy,” New Jersey Law Journal, July 12, 1993.
21. Interview with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Al-Hayat TV, Middle East Research Institute, January 30, 2012, http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/3295.htm.
22. Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815, 830–831 (1988).
23. Stephen Breyer, “The Supreme Court and the New International Law,” Speech to the American Society of International Law, Washington, D.C., April 4, 2003, http://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/speeches/viewspeeches.aspx?Filename=sp_04-04-03.html (April 18, 2013).
24. Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, 572–573 (2003).
25. Sandra Day O’Connor, “Keynote Address Before the Ninety-Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law,” 96 American Society of International Law Proceedings 348, 350 (2002).
26. Sandra Day O’Connor, The Majesty of the Law (New York: Knopf, 2003).
27. Hope Yen, “O’Connor Extols Role of International Law,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Oct. 27, 2004, http://www.ushumanrightsonline.net/news/article.62630-OConnor_extols_role_of_international_law (April 18, 2013).
28. Mark R. Levin, Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2005), 22.
29. James Madison, “Letter to Henry Lee, June 25, 1824,” in Writings, Jack N. Rakove, ed. (New York: Library of America, 1999), 803.
30. Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942), Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947), Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982), Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003), National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. __ (2012).
31. Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857), Plessy v. Ferguson, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).
32. Levin, Men in Black, 1.
33. Ibid., 2–9 and accompanying citations.
34. James Madison, The Writings of James Madison, Gaillard Hunt, ed., vol. 5 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904), 184, http://files.libertyfund.org/files/1937/Madison_1356-05_EBk_v6.0.pdf (April 19, 2013).
5. Two Amendments to Limit Federal Spending and Taxing
1. Milton Friedman, “Washington: Less Red Ink,” Atlantic, February 1983, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/1983/02/washinton-less-red-ink/305450 (September 25, 2012).
2. Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, Pub.L. 93–344, 88 Stat. 297, 2 U.S.C. §§ 601–688.
3. Ibid.
4. Chris Cox, “The con game we call Congress: In the still of the night, members raised pay, raided the Treasury,” Orange County Register, November 26, 1989, p. 3G.
5. D. Andrew Austin and Mindy R. Levit, “The Debt Lim
it: History and Recent Increases,” Congressional Research Service, Feb. 7, 2013, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31967.pdf (March 17, 2013).
6. “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).
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Keith Hennessey, “CBO’s new deficit estimate,” Your Guide to American Economic Policy, May 15, 2013, http://keithhennessey.com/2013/05/15/cbos-new-deficit-estimate (May 27, 2013). Therefore, the nation’s fiscal situation remains grim and is getting much worse, only slightly slower, as large annual federal deficits continue to mount.
10. “NCSL Fiscal Brief: State Balanced Budget Provisions,” National Conference of State Legislatures, October 2010, http://www.ncsl.org/documents/fiscal/statebalancedbudgetprovisions2010.pdf (March 17, 2013).
11. “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).
12. “Debt Position and Activity Report,” United States Department of the Treasury, http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/pd_debtposactrpt_1212.pdf (March 17, 2013).
13. Romina Boccia, “Obama: Don’t Worry About $16 Trillion Debt,” Heritage Foundation, The Foundry blog, Sept. 19, 2012, http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/19/obama-dont-worry-about-16-trillion-debt (March 17, 2013).
14. “The 2012 Long-Term Budget Outlook,” Congressional Budget Office, June 2012, http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/06-05-Long-Term_Budget_Outlook_2.pdf (March 17, 2013).
15. “2012 Annual Report of the Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds,” April 23, 2012, http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/economic-policy/ss-medicare/Documents/TR_2012_Medicare.pdf (March 17, 2013).
16. “The 2012 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds,” April 25, 2010, http://www.ssa.gov/oact/tr/2012/tr2012.pdf (March 17, 2013).
17. “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).
18. Nikola G. Swann, “Research Update: United States of America Long-Term Rating Lowered to ‘AA+’ on Political Risks and Rising Debt Burden; Outlook Negative,” Standard & Poor’s, Aug. 5, 2011, http://www.standardandpoors.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobheadername3=MDT-Type&blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blob headervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3DUnitedStatesofAmerica LongTermRatingLoweredToAA.pdf&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobkey= id&blobheadername1=content-type&blobwhere=1243942987733&blobheadervalue3=UTF-8 (March 17, 2013).
19. Nikola G. Swann, “Research Update: U.S. ‘AA+/A-1+’ Unsolicited Ratings Affirmed; Outlook Remains Negative on Continued Political and Fiscal Risks,” Standard & Poor’s, June 8, 2012, http://www.standardandpoors.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobheadername3=MDT-Type&blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobheadervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3DUS_Unsolicited_Ratings_Affirmed_6_8_12.pdf&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobheadername1=content-type&blobwhere=1244131049439&blobheadervalue3=UTF-8 (March 17, 2013).
20. “The federal government’s Long-Term Fiscal Outlook,” Government Accountability Office, Fall 2012 Update, http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/650466.pdf (March 17, 2013).
21. “What is the purpose of the Federal Reserve System?,” Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_12594.htm (March 17, 2013).
22. Charles Kadlec, “The Federal Reserve’s Explicit Goal: Devalue the Dollar 33%,” Forbes, Feb. 6, 2012, http://www.forbes.com/sites/charleskadlec/2012/02/06/the-federal-reserves-explicit-goal-devalue-the-dollar-33 (April 8, 2013).
23. Jeff Cox, “Time Bomb? Bankers Pressured to Buy Government Debt,” CNBC, May 31, 2012, http://www.cnbc.com/id/47633576/Time_Bomb_Banks_Pressured_to_Buy_Government_Debt (March 17, 2013).
24. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Henry Reeve, trans., Phillips Bradley, ed., vol. 1 (New York: Library of America, 2004), 242.
25. Robert Yates, “Brutus Essay No. 6,” Debates on the Constitution, vol. 1 (New York: Library of America, 1993), 618–19.
26. Ibid., “Brutus Essay No. 1,” 166–67.
27. Ibid., 167.
28. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 1987), 230–31.
29. Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, 4th ed., Thomas M. Cooley, ed., vol. 1, §923 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1873) (citing Thomas Jefferson).
30. Amos Singletary, Debates on the Constitution, 906.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid., 222, 225.
33. Story, Commentaries, §927.
34. Ibid., §909.
35. Ibid., §922.
36. Charlotte A. Twight, Dependent on D.C.: The Rise of Federal Control Over the Lives of Ordinary Americans (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 99 (quoting House Committee on Ways and Means, Income Tax Letter from Commissioner of Revenue, 41st Cong., 3d sess., January 23, 1871, House Mis. Doc. No. 51, p. 1).
37. Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co., 157 U.S. 429 (1895).
38. “Federal Individual Income Tax Rates History,” Tax Foundation, Sept. 9, 2011, http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/fed_individual_rate_history_nominal%26adjusted-20110909.pdf (March 17, 2013).
39. William McBride, “CBO Report Shows Increasing Redistribution in the Tax Code Despite No Long-term Trend in Income Inequality,” Tax Foundation, July 24, 2012, http://taxfoundation.org/article/cbo-report-shows-increasing-redistribution-tax-code-despite-no-long-term-trend-income-inequality (April 11, 2013).
40. “The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2008 and 2009,” Congressional Budget Office, July 2012, http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/43373-06-11-HouseholdIncomeandFedTaxes.pdf (March 18, 2013).
41. “Putting a Face on America’s Tax Return: Chart 29,” Tax Foundation, Sept. 24, 2012, http://taxfoundation.org/article/putting-face-americas-tax-returns-chart-29 (March 17, 2013).
42. “Who Pays Income Taxes and How Much?,” National Taxpayers Union, http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html (March 17, 2013).
43. Scott A. Hodge, “No Country Leans on Upper-Income Households as Much as U.S.,” Tax Foundation, March 21, 2011, http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html (March 17, 2013).
44. Isaac M. O’Bannon, “2003 Federal Income Tax Tables Released,” CPA Practice Advisor, Jan. 15, 2013, http://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/news/10853734/2013-federal-income-tax-tables-released (April 8, 2013).
45. 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).
46. Sara Hansard, “House Democrats Contemplate Abolishing 401(k) Tax Breaks,” Workforce Management, Oct. 16, 2008, updated Sept. 15, 2011, http://www.workforce.com/article/20081016/NEWS01/310169987/house-democrats-contemplate-abolishing-401-k-tax-breaks# (March 17, 2013).
47. Joshua Green, “The Liberal Plan to End the Mortgage-Interest Deduction,” BloombergBusinessweek, On Politics, Dec. 5, 2012, http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-05/the-liberal-plan-to-end-the-mortgage-interest-deduction (March 17, 2013).
48. Sarah Parnass, “Eliminating Charitable Deduction Would Help Budget, Hurt Charities,” ABC News, Dec. 6, 2012, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/eliminating-charitable-deduction-budget-hurt-charities/story?id=17889183 (March 17, 2013).
49. Joel Griffith, “Krugman: U.S. Nee
ds Death Panels, Sales Taxes,” Breitbart, Feb. 5, 2013, http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/02/04/Krugman-Death-panels-and-sales-taxes-is-how-we-do-this (March 17, 2013).
50. “2012 Annual Report to Congress,” Internal Revenue Service, National Taxpayer Advocate, Dec. 31, 2012, http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/userfiles/file/2012-Annual-Report-to-Congress-Executive-Summary.pdf (March 17, 2013).
51. James Bovard, “A Brief History of IRS Political Targeting,” Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2013, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324715704578482823301630836.html (May 27, 2013).
52. National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. __ (2012), Slip Op., No. 11-393, June 28, 2012.
53. Ibid. (Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito, JJ. dissenting) (Slip Op., 24–25).
54. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Report, “Affordable Care Act: Planning Efforts for the Tax Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Appear Adequate; However, the Resource Estimation Process Needs Improvement,” Ref. No. 2012-43-064, June 24, 2012, http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2012reports/201243064fr.pdf.
55. I do not object to “the Fair Tax,” which functions as a national sales tax and eliminates all forms of revenue-based taxation, should it be a preferred amendment by delegates to a state convention. See “The Fair Tax Plan,” Americans for Fair Taxation, http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HowFairTaxWorks (April 8, 2013).
6. An Amendment to Limit the Federal Bureaucracy
1. U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Section 1.
2. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2006), 276–77.
3. Ibid., 275.
4. James Madison, “Debate in Virginia Ratifying Convention,” in The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, 2nd ed., Jonathan Elliot, ed., vol. 3 (U.S. Congress, 1836), 514.
5. John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government, chap. 11, §141 (New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004).
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid., §134.
8. Ibid., §142.