The taxing power in the federal government resides in the Congress. The Constitution states that Congress has the power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts" of the federal government. Indeed, in order to emphasize the location of...
When British kings wanted to dispose of troublesome enemies – real or imagined – they often had them or their colleagues arrested on pretextual charges and then brutally tortured until confessions were extracted. The confessions were then read aloud during so-called...
In 2021, to his credit, President Joe Biden warned the American public against the dangers of zero-click spyware manufactured by an Israeli corporation. Zero-click is unwanted software that can expose the entire contents of one's mobile or desktop device to prying...
"Congress shall make no law ...abridging the freedom of speech or of the press..." ~ First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution During the oral argument before the Supreme Court in the famous Pentagon Papers case, a fascinating colloquy took place between Justice...
When she was a member of the House of Representatives, Tulsi Gabbard was a fierce defender of personal privacy rights protected by the Fourth Amendment. She consistently opposed permitting federal agents to spy on Americans without search warrants, and she...
During the course of an FBI written response to a Freedom of Information Act request asking about the trade names and suppliers of surveillance software the FBI had purchased, the government has yet again quietly acknowledged its antipathy to constitutional provisions...
The war in Ukraine is an American war for which the United States government should be ashamed and blamed. It was initiated by President Joe Biden and then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, both of whom advised Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that if he...
Here's a pop quiz: When can an Army colonel overrule the Secretary of Defense? It happened last week for probably the first time in modern history. The short answer is: Even in the military, the Secretary of Defense cannot change the rules and procedures for criminal...
Can the president fight any war he wishes? Can Congress fund any war it chooses? Are there constitutional and legal requirements that must first be met before war is waged? These questions should be addressed in a national debate over the U.S. military involvement in...
In 1791, when Congressman James Madison was drafting the first 10 amendments to the Constitution – which would become known as the Bill of Rights – he insisted that the most prominent amendment among them restrain the government from interfering with the freedom of...
