"10 Minutes Closer to Freedom" In this episode of Thoughts from Maharrey Head I talk about the First Amendment, its relation to freedom of speech, and more generally the importance of free expression in a free society. The recent shutdown of a Donald Trump rally in Chicago has generated a lot of discussion about freedom..
Read morePodcast: Guns
Thoughts from Maharrey Head "10 Minutes Closer to Freedom" In episode #19 of Thoughts from Maharrey Head, I talk about guns. We talk about the Second Amendment a lot in the United States. Some people love it. Some people hate it. But the sad truth is, very few people actually understand it. Even some of..
Read moreConstitution 101: The Incorporation Doctrine and the Bill of Rights
In my last Constitution 101 post, I established that the Bill of Rights was not originally intended to apply to the states. But lawyers and other supporters of federal courts policing rights at the state and local level will point to the 14th Amendment. They argue that it “incorporates” the Bill of Rights and applies..
Read moreConstitution 101: Was the Bill of Rights Meant to Apply to the States?
Last week we began examining the Bill of Rights. This week we will address a specific question: was the Bill of Rights intended to apply to the state governments? Some people argue that it was. They concoct some interesting arguments based on “rules of construction” or approach it through various philosophies of rights and liberty..
Read moreConstitution 101: The Bill of Rights
I was originally planning on looking at the Second Amendment this week, but it occurred to me that we should examine the Bill of Rights more generally before digging into specific provisions. Adding a declaration of rights to the Constitution was a condition of ratification for several states, and five state ratification documents included specific..
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