The United States Constitution and Citizens' Rights: The Interpretation and Mis-Interpretation of the American Contract for Governance / Edition 1

by Roland Adickes

Overview

In a time when American politics has become a spectator sport often viewed with a cynical eye by the people, it is needful to be reminded that our freedom entails a civic responsibility to preserve the legal document that gives us that freedom, the United States Constitution.

The Constitution is a contract to which all citizens are parties and upon which they have a right to rely. The people have as well the right to protect themselves from interpretations that go unreasonably beyond the original intent of the Framers. It is clear that in the past the Constitution has been abused to justify decisions made by the legislative and judicial branches of government (as in the Dred Scott case) that have since been overturned. Decisions that extend the powers of the federal government beyond the expressly stated limits declared in the Constitution continue to occur today and remain subjects of intensely debated contention.

This book gives detailed examples of where Congress and the Supreme Court have gone outside the people's mutual contract and have, in effect, amended the Constitution. The last chapter outlines a procedure by which citizens, voting directly, can overrule or repeal amendments made by elements of their government.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786409297
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	03/22/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	174
Sales rank:	776,660
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.35(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Roland Adickes, a retired attorney at law, has written for the California Law Review and the Southern California Law Review. He lives in Dixon, California.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface     
On Sources     
Introduction: What's the Problem?     

I. The Expansion of the Powers of Congress     
II. The Expansion of the Judicial Power     
III. Education     
IV. Housing     
V. Americans with Disabilities     
VI. Air     
VII. Water     
VIII. Endangered Species     
IX. The Arts     
X. Prisons     
XI. What Can and Should We Do?     

Index     

Editorial Reviews

recommended…useful”—Catholic Library World; “detailed”—University of Chicago Magazine.

From the Publisher

"detailed"

University of Chicago Magazine

recommended...useful

Catholic Library World

Retired attorney Adickes puts forward a strongly conservative case explaining examples of where Congress and the Supreme Court have overstepped their constitutional rights and have, in effect, amended the Constitution, and how it is possible for citizens to overrule or repeal these "amendments" that are in truth misuses of power. He argues, for example, that the idea of equal opportunity in education is not within the 14th Amendment's equal enforcement of the law clause, and that money for the arts is an illegal misuse of taxpayer dollars. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews