U.S. Constitution

COMMENTARY
The Ohio burgee. Getty images.

The historical malfeasance of equating the Ohio Constitution with the U.S. Constitution to attack it

BY: - July 6, 2023

Republicans pushing Ohio voters to strip ourselves of our own power over the Ohio Constitution on Aug. 8 by raising the threshold for passing amendments to 60% have repeatedly used historically misleading arguments about the U.S. Constitution. Never mind that U.S. Constitutional amendments require support from two-thirds of lawmakers in each chamber of Congress and […]

COMMENTARY

Even if charged and convicted, Trump will still be able to run in 2024 and serve if elected

BY: - December 21, 2022

The criminal referral of Donald Trump to the Department of Justice by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack is largely symbolic – the panel itself has no power to prosecute any individual. Nonetheless, the recommendation that Trump be investigated for four potential crimes – obstructing an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United […]

COMMENTARY

Checks on Ohio GOP’s gerrymandering to be tested in U.S. Supreme Court case being heard Wednesday

BY: - December 6, 2022

Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman is on pins and needles. The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments this week on an elections law case that could make his life as Ohio’s premier despot a lot easier — or not. The highly anticipated Moore v. Harper is brought by Huffman’s kindred spirits in the Republican-controlled North […]

COMMENTARY

The right to vote is not in the Constitution

BY: - October 19, 2022

If you’re looking for the right to vote, you won’t find it in the United States Constitution or the Bill of Rights. Two of the most important cases at the Supreme Court this year address voting rights, and both legal controversies focus on the right to vote. But rather than denials of the right to […]

COMMENTARY

Our new Republican activist U.S. Supreme Court is assaulting the separation of church and state

BY: - June 23, 2022

American politicians fear-mongering over moral and religious decline, and advocating for state sponsorship of religion, is as old as the founding of the Republic. The key original battle took place in Virginia between “Give me liberty, or give me death,” Patrick Henry, an astute political opportunist who opposed the U.S. Constitution, and the “Father of […]

COMMENTARY

When are book bans unconstitutional? A First Amendment scholar explains

BY: - April 15, 2022

The United States has become a nation divided over important issues in K-12 education, including which books students should be able to read in public school. Efforts to ban books from school curricula, remove books from libraries and keep lists of books that some find inappropriate for students are increasing as Americans become more polarized […]

COMMENTARY

Bookman: ‘We the people’ are in dangerous territory

BY: - March 4, 2022

The state of our union is precarious. It is precarious not because of some outside threat – outside threats we can still handle. It is precarious because we have forgotten our way, because we find ourselves increasingly seduced by a perverted, stunted and selfish notion of freedom. It is precarious because some of us have […]

COMMENTARY

Think Texas politics is extreme? Ohio right-wing radicalism has taken over the state

BY: - September 14, 2021

Don’t kid yourself. Texas radicalism isn’t just coming to a state near you. It’s been in Ohio for a long while and getting worse. Understand that the abhorrent politics being practiced against Texans by the GOP is being mimicked by Republican copycats in Columbus. Hold that thought. Jaws dropped when Texas got away with enacting […]

COMMENTARY

COVID brings front and center the tug between individual rights and the public good

BY: - August 11, 2021

By Janice Ellis It seems that getting control of the coronavirus has brought front and center the question: When should an individual’s right become more important than what is in the best health and welfare of the people, the country? The Bill of Rights places high priority on individual freedoms — the bedrock of our democracy that […]

COMMENTARY

Ohio Republicans go full Calhoun on nullification. Never go full Calhoun.

BY: - April 15, 2021

Ohio Republicans in the state legislature have apparently decided to go full Calhoun with a proposed bill attempting to nullify not only any federal gun laws they don’t like but also any court rulings related to gun laws with which they disagree. They do not possess the power to do this under the U.S. Constitution, […]