Andrew P. Napolitano

When James Madison was a member of Congress in 1791 and charged with drafting the Bill of Rights, he made two grammatical demands. One was that the word “the” precede “freedom of speech” in the First Amendment, and the other was a command in the Ninth Amendment that the “rights retained by the people,” rights too numerous to enumerate, “shall not be disparaged” by the government.

            This principle -- that our rights preexisted the government -- would be played out over and over in litigation in the centuries following the. . .

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Taking Easter Seriously

“That God, which ever lives and loves,             One God, one law, one element,             And one far-off divine event  — Alfred Lord Tennyson…

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Taking Rights Seriously

“If all mankind minus one were of one opinion,            Mankind would be no more justified            In silencing that one person,            Than he, if he had…

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