Reading Assignments!

In lieu of my usual story and rant this week, I’m just posting some links to some reading you can do for yourself. Again, I’m a big believer in people educating themselves and making their own decisions, and all of my posts so far are intended to make you think about these things for yourself.

But sometimes it’s helpful to just say “Hey, read this” without editorializing (too much).

The following are all Supreme Court Cases where the government was found to be in violation of the Constitution in some form or another.  To make them easier to digest, I’m linking to the Wikipedia article for them where it exists. Wikipedia is usually pretty accurate, and relatively neutral, though not always.  I encourage you to do your own research, the references given in each Wikipedia article are a good place to start.

United States v. Jones - attaching a GPS to a citizen’s vehicle to monitor his movements without a warrant violates the 4th Amendment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Jones_%282012%29

Sackett v. EPA - imposing fines against landowners for non-compliance without due process violates the 4th Amendment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sackett_v._Environmental_Protection_Agency

Arizona v. United States - States are within their 10th Amendment rights to uphold Federal Law regarding immigration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_v._United_States

Gabelli v. SEC - the Security and Exchange Commission must abide by it’s own statute of limitations.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/11-1274

http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/gabelli-v-securities-and-exchange-commission/

http://www.cato.org/blog/gabelli-v-sec-fairness-wins-9-0

Arkansas Fish & Game Commission v. United States - reinforces the Takings Clause of the 5th Amendment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_Game_and_Fish_Commission_v._United_States

Georgia v. Randolph - police need a warrant to search a residence if one resident objects to the search, even if another resident gives consent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_v._Randolph

Various blogs out there will try and paint some of these cases as evidence to push an agenda that either Bush or Obama is evil.   For example, the first example - US V. Jones came from a Republican leaning blog that used it as one example of how horrible the Obama administration is.  However, the fact is that the violation and the subsequent court case began under the Bush administration, but was just as vigorously pursued or defended under the Obama administration.  Abuse of government power by it’s bureaucrats does not suddenly change just because the President is a member of one party or the other. 

These are just the cases that have made it to the highest courts.

More interesting cases can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_landmark_court_decisions_in_the_United_States