It’s been a decade since the Supreme Court affirmed, in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), that the Second Amendment protects an individual and fundamental right, striking down laws that effectively prohibited the possession of handguns in one’s own home. Since then, the court has routinely declined to…
New Mexico’s Quay County is pushing back against the state’s gun control bills by declaring itself a “Second Amendment Sanctuary County.” The Quay County Commission voted unanimously Wednesday supporting the resolution to protect its citizens’ gun rights. Among the bills pending in the state Legislature that the commision is responding to is House Bill 8,…
Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit overruled lower court decisions that had struck down state laws defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The 6th Circuit Court ruled that constitutional amendments passed by popular vote in Michigan (2.7 million votes), Kentucky (1.2 million), Ohio (3.3 million) and Tennessee (1.4…
Five states voted Tuesday on whether to further protect unborn life or to promote abortion. California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, and Vermont all voted to further abortion to varying degrees. “Any win for the radical abortion lobby is a loss for women, unborn babies, and families,” Melanie Israel, a policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, told…
This op-ed is part of a series exploring the writings and jurisprudence of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the president’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Now that President Donald Trump has nominated 7th Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, the Senate must assess her qualifications, including her legal experience and judicial philosophy….
The House is expected to consider its farm bill this week, but in its current form, the bill is a disaster when it comes to farm subsidies (crop insurance and commodity programs). Many legislators have introduced a wide range of amendments that, if passed, could help take a step in the right direction on subsidy…
The Equal Rights Amendment is dead. Not, as Miracle Max put it in “The Princess Bride,” “mostly dead,” but “all dead.” ERA advocates, however, just won’t let it rest in peace. Forty-six Senate Democrats have written President Joe Biden, asking that he help perpetuate the ERA myth even as he leaves office, requesting that he…
I was convinced beyond a moral doubt: Life begins at conception. But my conviction was more instinctual than cerebral. Then I began to think. I could be wrong. There are simple answers to most complex questions about life, but they are often wrong. Moreover, who crowned me with the authority to decide for others when…
Donald Trump and Joe Biden will have to get in line for bragging rights. This fall’s presidential election, the results of which the Trump campaign continues to challenge in key battleground states, is hardly the first national election that went into overtime. As I examined in my book “Tainted by Suspicion: The Secret Deals and…
Last month, the Supreme Court surprised the national news media by refusing to hear any of the seven same-sex marriage cases that had been pending. Following that denial of review, the status of same-sex marriage appears to be based on an odd sort of federalism. If you live in a region of the country governed…
Minnesota videographers Carl and Angel Larsen would like to film weddings. But thanks to a Minnesota law, they’re concerned that they cannot do so without risking either violating their religious beliefs or facing fines and jail time. “Marriage is a central theme in our lives,” Carl Larsen said. “My wife and I have been married…
When Congress enacted the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in 1994, the advocates’ sales pitch was that it would address an alleged organized nationwide campaign of blockades, bombings, and violence against abortion clinics. The last three decades, however, have unveiled the truth. The FACE Act has become exactly what it was designed to…
During the past several months, COVID-19 policies have stretched the constitutions of Michigan and other states, as well as the U.S. Constitution. Governors across the country have governed by executive order instead of working with their legislatures or county health departments on solutions. This distorts the separation of powers in our constitutions, both state and…
Another year, another Supreme Court term in the books. And again, the court kept everyone waiting for many of its most consequential decisions until the last days of the 2022-2023 term. It was worth the wait, however, since the court issued important decisions that proved to be victories for the rule of law on affirmative…
Pro-life activists in Ohio are working to prevent approval of a ballot question that would enshrine abortion in the Buckeye State’s Constitution. Cincinnati Right to Life members Margaret DeBlase and John Giroux filed a lawsuit with the state's highest court to prevent the proposed constitutional amendment from appearing on the ballot in November, arguing that…
When the Supreme Court earlier this spring dismissed a New York gun case from its docket without ruling on the merits, disappointed Second Amendment advocates still had high hopes. After all, even though the court hadn’t decided a meaningful Second Amendment case in more than a decade, at least four justices had recently signaled their…
Ohio’s pro-abortion Reproductive Freedom Amendment, passed in 2023, has now been used to block a state law requiring the humane burial or cremation of aborted children. Last week, Ohio’s 1st District Court of Appeals upheld a ruling against Ohio’s SB 27, which mandated fetal remains be buried or cremated. The appeals court concluded “that the…
Another Obamacare co-op, Connecticut’s HealthyCT, is closing its doors, and at least two most could follow suit as the nonprofit insurers decide whether they will be able to remain on firm financial footing. The nine remaining co-ops of the original 23 co-ops must make payments totaling at least $130 million through Obamacare’s risk adjustment program,…
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., released his plan Tuesday to combat firearm-related violence. For starters, most of it would violate the Constitution. Booker’s 14-point plan includes measures that have become a staple in progressive and anti-gun circles, such as universal background checks and bans on the civilian possession of semi-automatic rifles or factory-standard magazines capable of…
DES MOINES, IOWA—National standards, including requiring an ID to vote and making Election Day a national holiday, are needed to ensure free and fair elections, says Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. While states typically run elections, the federal government has set minimum standards under the Help America Vote Act of 2001, and prior to that,…