Over at Townhall, your weekly Common Sense column surveys the current divisions — not so much on the Supreme Court (they change), but in the federal union itself. There are a few keywords worth thinking about: nullification, interposition, delegated powers, unenumerated rights, and (go full-blooded, here) “checks and balances.”
Townhall’s where to go. But here’s where to come back.
- This weekend’s column is a reflection on the two cases covered at the end of the week, here on ThisIsCommonSense.com, namely “Too Respectful of Congress?” (Thursday) and “No Right to Defend Your Rights” (Friday). You’ll find links to the Supreme Court decisions on those Common Sense entries.
- There are many sources discussing the origin of judicial review. One of the more recent is The Activist: John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, and the Myth of Judicial Review, by Lawrence Goldstone.
- Thomas Woods’s Nullification: How to Resist Tyranny in the 21st Century, is as good a place as any to begin thinking about the history and live possibility of Madison’s “interposition.”
- It’s always worth re-reading The Constitution … and other founding documents. There are many on the Net. But this is one area where you’d expect the government to excel, no? So go to the Library of Congress’s site, and read.