[snopercod]

Thanks for posting these quaint historical documents. At one time in America, they were the supreme law of the land.

• Amendment I - Freedom of speech violated by the Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002. (You can still assemble to petition your government for a redress of this grievance if you have a permit.)

• Amendment II - Right to keep and bear arms violated by the The Firearms act of 1968, The Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act of 1993, The Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, and many others.

• Amendment III - The only one which hasn't been violated (yet). I haven't heard of any soldiers being quartered in private homes.

• Amendment IV - The right to be secure in our persons, homes, papers and effects violated by numerous "War on Drugs" bills, The Telecommunications Act of 1996, The Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, and The "Patriot Act" of 2002.

• Amendment V - Private property? Just compensation? Due process of law? Violated by the Environmental Protection Act of 1970, numerous "War on Drugs" bills, The Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, and The "Patriot Act" of 2002.

• Amendment VI - Speedy and public jury trial? Violated by The "Patriot Act" of 2002.

• Amendment VII - The government has gotten around this one by holding two trials: One criminal, and one civil. If you can't convict someone beyond a reasonable doubt, then lower the standards to "a preponderance of the evidence" and try again.

• Amendment VIII - Excessive bail is routinely required for "political" crimes. Example: B.B. Nelson had to post $1 million bail for setting off a smoke bomb in the local EPA office in Titusville, FL.

• Amendment IX - Retained rights? - Just about every law that congress passes these days violates this one. For instance, do I have a right to fly? This amendment says I do, but Congress says otherwise. In modern America, "We the People" only have the "rights" that the federal government allows us to have. Rights are now permissions.

• Amendment X - "States Rights" have been null and void since the civil war and the passage of Amendment XIV in 1866.

Feel free to add to this list.

[sopwith]

post 8.
Thats worthy for an op. ed.

[eno_]

Absolutely brilliant summary.

And the sad sad sad thing is some "conservatives" don't even know enough history to know that most of the damage was done in during and post the New Deal.

Rolling back the New Deal used to be the definition of "Republican." Now, even highly educated conservatives like Laura Ingram parrot the government line on atrocities like the Patriot Act.

[tpaine]

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Amendment X - "States Rights" have been null and void since the civil war and the passage of Amendment XIV in 1866.

  Amendment XIV
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

________________________________________

There is nothing in the 14th that nullifies/voids the 10th. -- It merely makes clear that states cannot violate our individual rights as outlined in the rest of the constitution.

States have never had the delegated power to infringe upon our enumerated/ unenumerated rights, -- as is made clear by the preamble to the BOR's, -- which states that "when ratified", - it is, - " to be valid for all intents and purposes, as part of said Constitution".
Article VI states that our Constitution: "-- shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound therby; --"

Your ideas about "states rights" are being used by states like CA to violate our 2nd amendment, by prohibiting so-called 'assault weapons'.

[Marauder]

Amendment X was also assaulted by Carter's creation of the Dep't of Education.

[an amused spectator]

Amendment III - The only one which hasn't been violated (yet). I haven't heard of any soldiers being quartered in private homes.

Why should they need to quarter soldiers in your house, when it's more convenient to tax the cr*p out of your house and use the money to buy $10,000 H&K MP5s? One of the big points of "quartering" was to let you know that your property was really the government's property.

I submit that if you don't pay your "property taxes" on your house, you'll find out in a hurry whose house it REALLY is. ;=-)

[Maelstrom]

Amendment III - The only one which hasn't been violated (yet). I haven't heard of any soldiers being quartered in private homes.

It is violated by extending the senses of those soldiers via technological means. See: Surveillance

[gitmo]

Excellent synopsis. I was thinking along those lines and saw your post.

I would add the Eminent Domain laws and all property taxes as violations of Amendment IV & V.

Amendment VII There have been several cases where the judge simply threw out a jury decision because he didn't agree with it.

[Major_Risktaker]

Snopercod you sly boy.

What George III lost I may regain.

Can't wait till Hatch-Kennedy passes.

Bill of Right in Action!!

[patriot_wes]

Amendment I - Freedom of speech violated by the Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002. (You can still assemble to petition your government for a redress of this grievance if you have a permit.)

we'll find out on January 22-24 in Washington DC!

[Jim Robinson]

You can probably argue that each and every law on the federal books is a violation, restriction or infringement on one or more of our rights. Very seldom do they pass a law giving us more freedom. Only more restrictions.

[Tim Osman]

You are my new hero. Great post.

We need to spread that far and wide. Or is America past the point of caring? Much of FR seems to be.

BTW, I heard that some California farmers were forced to "quarter" national guard troops who were searching for marijuana. Have no clue as the the veracity of that one, though.