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10 Year Old Recites U.S. Constitution From Memory

Nathan Bond, a 10-year-old from California spent his summer memorizing the every last word of the U.S. Constitution.

“It was pretty hard,” Nathan told CNN, adding that it took him 137 days to memorize the Constitution. “I didn’t get one break except on my birthday.”

Heidi Bond, Nathan’s mom, said she homeschools her boy, and he “fell in love with America and the government” when he read and memorized the Declaration of Independence which he recited at a rally in Sacramento back in June. He took on the Constitution project this summer, memorizing the document in 40 word segments during family camping trips and boat rides.

“He has a mind like no other I’ve ever seen,” she said. “He’s a genius. He can memorize anything within seconds.”

Heidi recorded a video of Nathan’s grand performance to YouTube last week. Nathan devotedly reads recites the Constitution, an achievement that takes 25 minutes.

 

L.A. City Council bans possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines

Defying sharp warnings from gun rights groups, Los Angeles thrust itself into the national debate over  controlling the peasants and denying them their God given right to self-defense Tuesday, as city lawmakers voted unanimously to ban the possession of firearm magazines that hold more than 10 rounds violating the Second Amendment and Article I, Section 9, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution “No…ex post facto Law shall be passed ”

The L.A. Times reported that: Such magazines have been “the common thread” in almost all the mass shootings…” but no surprise failed to mention the same magazines have saved far more lives when used in self-defense.

The NRA, Freedom Fighters Foundation, and other gun rights groups have threatened to sue over Los Angeles’ new rules, arguing that they violate the 2nd Amendment and are preempted by existing state law.

In reaction, Councilman Paul Krekorian declared before a cheering crowd outside City Hall, “If the NRA wants to sue us over this, bring it on.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti said he was eager to sign the L.A. measure, which passed 12-0 with three council members absent. Even as city officials celebrated the newly passed restrictions, some hard core leftist gun grabbers were dismayed to hear about a proposal to exempt retired police officers from the rules — an 11th-hour change sought by the union that represents Los Angeles police.

“People who want to defend their families don’t need a 100-round drum magazine and an automatic weapon to do it,” said Krekorian, but intentionally ignoring the original intent of the Founding Fathers who knew that arms are the final check on oppressive government.

Gun rights groups argued the law violates the rights of citizens to protect themselves. Ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds “are in common use for self-defense and they are overwhelmingly chosen for that purpose,” said Anna M. Barvir, an attorney with Michel & Associates, which represents the NRA and the California Rifle & Pistol Assn.

“Indeed, millions are in the hands of good American citizens. As such, they are fully protected by the Constitution,” Barvir said in a statement.

At the Tuesday hearing, the CalGuns Shooting Sports Assn. also raised concerns. “I don’t think it’s going to have any effect on gun violence,” said the association’s director, Chad Cheung, pointing out that people in neighboring cities such as Burbank or Glendale could still possess the magazines.

“Bad people are going to do bad things, and they’ll do it regardless of whatever laws are in place,” Cheung said.

The Los Angeles ordinance is modeled on rules adopted in San Francisco and Sunnyvale that have so far survived legal challenges. Leftwich, from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, assured the council it was on “firm legal ground.” But Barvir, whose firm represents gun rights groups, said the legal battles are not over and clients are considering litigation over the L.A. rules.

The new ordinance demands Angelenos must surrender or remove all standard capacity magazines within 60 days. Violations will be a misdemeanor but a criminalization of a God given right. Garcetti has 10 days to sign the measure, which would take effect a little more than a month later.

The Los Angeles rules exempt some special classes of people, such as, police and military gun owners, licensed firearm dealers, and people who obtained guns before January 1, 2000, that can only be used with such magazines. At the Tuesday meeting, Councilman Mitch Englander also proposed an exemption for any retired police officer who holds a valid, current permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Leftist extremist Margot Bennett from women against gun violence stated “If the City Council allows this exemption, none of us are going to be happy,”

Exempting retired officers from the rules tugs the extreme left-leaning council between gun grabbing groups staunchly opposed to excluding more Angelenos and the police union bosses who made only $34,000 in campaign contributions to city candidates and elected officials since 2010.

The police union has also pushed for retired officers who they believe is part of the special class of citizens to be exempt from another proposed ordinance that would require Angelenos to lock up handguns or disable them with trigger locks when they are not being used at home.

Krekorian and several other lawmakers have balked at the idea of excluding retired officers from those storage rules, which are expected to come back before lawmakers for a vote next week. However, Krekorian said he supported exempting retired officers from the large-capacity magazine ban because it wouldn’t pose a similar risk to the public, but what we suspect he really wanted to say is it does not pose a risk to the politicians and their power who don’t want the peasants to be armed.

The heart of Justice Scalia’s originalism

By John S. Baker – -April 14, 2015 (Washington Times)

John Strand’s fascinating play, the Originalist, manages to humanize Justice Scalia for those who view him, in the play’s words, as a heartless monster. Beneath the Justice’s combative brilliance, the play shows him to be quite compassionate towards his far-left, lesbian law clerk. But the playwright fails to find the heart of Originalism.

The lead actor, Edward Gero, nails the Justice’s walk, words, and mannerisms. Missing, however, is the Justice’s hearty laughter. But an actor can’t give us what’s not in the script. Actors in a play are textualists— interpreting, yes; but still sticking to the writer’s words. A play is not the place for Improv.

Originalists are textualists who interpret the words actually written in the Constitution – the script. They don’t do Improv.

The play puzzles over the question: how could someone so brilliant be so obtuse as not to realize that the Constitution must be updated to meet modern needs?

The answer provided by the play and some commentators: the Justice’s strict adherence to the words of the Constitution can only be explained in terms of his traditional (read “rigid”) Roman Catholicism.

Religious faith may explain the Justice’s genuine compassion, but certainly not his Originalism.

Originalism venerates neither the Bible nor Church teaching, but words written by Protestants and Deists. The Constitution has long been the scripture for our civic religion. On this point, it is instructive that in the 1830s Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story (a Unitarian) and others borrowed the question-and-answer format of the Catholic catechism and created “Constitutional catechisms.”

America’s civic religion has been eroding for over 100 years under the intellectual influence of Progressivism, as articulated by Woodrow Wilson. Rejecting what he claimed was the Newtonian world view of the Founders and substituting social Darwinism, Wilson provided the political-philosophical basis for the “living” or “evolving” Constitution:

Living political constitutions must be Darwinian in structure and in practice. Society is a living organism and must obey the laws of life, not of mechanics; it must develop. All the progressives ask or desire is permission – in an era when ‘development,’ ‘evolution,’ is the scientific word – to interpret the Constitution according to the Darwinian principle.”

Critics of Originalism may sound persuasive by observing that laws become outdated over time. Statutes certainly can become outdated. Matters likely to become outdated, however, do not belong in a constitution and were not included in our Constitution. Instead, the Constitution provides for changes through the system of Separation of Powers, with Congress making changes in law, as long as the President is willing to accept the changes, and the Supreme Court finds no violation of the Constitution.

Wilson rejected Separation of Powers because it slows down democracy. Indeed, the Framers wanted to make it difficult to pass federal laws. The Separation-of-Powers system necessitates law-making by consensus rather than simple majorities.

Contra Wilson, Justice Scalia both rejects “the living Constitution” and argues for restoring (and annually teaches a course on) the original, rigorous understanding of Separation of Powers.

For Progressives, Justice Scalia’s Constitution represents a throwback in terms of Darwinian progress. What matters for them is the expansion of rights, not the structure of the Constitution

Americans may be conflicted. They generally want the Court to follow the words of the Constitution, but they tend to equate the Constitution with the Bill of Rights. As Justice Scalia often says, however, the Bill of Rights is only “the icing on the cake.” Without Separation of Powers, including an independent judiciary, the Bill of Rights would mean nothing more than words on paper. The former Soviet Union and other despotic regimes have had wonderfully written, but meaningless, bills of rights.

Americans would do well to recall that the heart of the Constitution is its structure of Separation of Powers and Federalism. The structure and the powers it grants, limits, and divides among the branches of the federal government never become outdated. The powers to tax, to borrow money, to regulate commerce among the states, to raise and support armies, etc., will be essential as long as the country exists.
Originalism venerates neither the Bible nor Church teaching, but words written by Protestants and Deists. The Constitution has long been the scripture for our civic religion. On this point, it is instructive that in the 1830s Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story (a Unitarian) and others borrowed the question-and-answer format of the Catholic catechism and created “Constitutional catechisms.”

America’s civic religion has been eroding for over 100 years under the intellectual influence of Progressivism, as articulated by Woodrow Wilson. Rejecting what he claimed was the Newtonian world view of the Founders and substituting social Darwinism, Wilson provided the political-philosophical basis for the “living” or “evolving” Constitution:

Living political constitutions must be Darwinian in structure and in practice. Society is a living organism and must obey the laws of life, not of mechanics; it must develop. All the progressives ask or desire is permission – in an era when ‘development,’ ‘evolution,’ is the scientific word – to interpret the Constitution according to the Darwinian principle.”

Critics of Originalism may sound persuasive by observing that laws become outdated over time. Statutes certainly can become outdated. Matters likely to become outdated, however, do not belong in a constitution and were not included in our Constitution. Instead, the Constitution provides for changes through the system of Separation of Powers, with Congress making changes in law, as long as the President is willing to accept the changes, and the Supreme Court finds no violation of the Constitution.

Wilson rejected Separation of Powers because it slows down democracy. Indeed, the Framers wanted to make it difficult to pass federal laws. The Separation-of-Powers system necessitates law-making by consensus rather than simple majorities.

Contra Wilson, Justice Scalia both rejects “the living Constitution” and argues for restoring (and annually teaches a course on) the original, rigorous understanding of Separation of Powers.

For Progressives, Justice Scalia’s Constitution represents a throwback in terms of Darwinian progress. What matters for them is the expansion of rights, not the structure of the Constitution

Americans may be conflicted. They generally want the Court to follow the words of the Constitution, but they tend to equate the Constitution with the Bill of Rights. As Justice Scalia often says, however, the Bill of Rights is only “the icing on the cake.” Without Separation of Powers, including an independent judiciary, the Bill of Rights would mean nothing more than words on paper. The former Soviet Union and other despotic regimes have had wonderfully written, but meaningless, bills of rights.

Americans would do well to recall that the heart of the Constitution is its structure of Separation of Powers and Federalism. The structure and the powers it grants, limits, and divides among the branches of the federal government never become outdated. The powers to tax, to borrow money, to regulate commerce among the states, to raise and support armies, etc., will be essential as long as the country exists.

Like Justice Scalia, the framers focused on structure. They invented the novel doctrine of a federal judiciary having a power to declare laws unconstitutional. They did so to preserve the Constitution as written against the power-grabbing tendencies of the political branches in the federal and state governments.

At its heart, Originalism is grounded in the Framers’ understanding of human nature and power. It rejects the Progressive belief that human beings have so progressed that the Constitution’s structural restraints are no longer necessary to curb the self-interested behavior of those holding – and seeking more—power. As one observer once said, “Scalia does not have a sanguine view of human nature or much confidence in social progress.”  Nor did the Framers.

John S. Baker, Jr., Ph.D. is Visiting Professor, Georgetown University Law Center and Professor Emeritus, Louisiana State University Law Center.