Page 46 - State Constitutions News Today

Obamacare will severely impact the quality of health care for the american people. and it will be repealed. >> sean: what about the mandate aspect of this? the constitutionality of it, government mandating health care has been a big issue. in romneycare bill, it was mandated. there was a state mandate. what is the distinction considering republicans arguing wait a minute theres no constitutional authority to put a mandate on people that they must have insurance? >> federal constitution does not ...

Standing behind and david you guys have been working quietly for quite some time. bring us up to speed on whats happening. >> its what the british call the clergy in the american revolution. they imprisoned breechers they burned ten to the ground they blamed everything on the preachers. they were bold gore rage gus guys who wrote state constitutions ratified u.s. constitutions served in congress. they dont have that background any more. the education leaders politics leaders all these things get...

Guys have been working quietly for quite some time. bring us up to speed on whats happening. >> its what the british call the clergy in the american revolution. they imprisoned breechers they burned ten to the ground they blamed everything on the preachers. they were bold gore rage gus guys who wrote state constitutions ratified u.s. constitutions served in congress. they dont have that background any more. the education leaders politics leaders all these things get their voice back. theres a we...

>> we hear so much about separation of church and state now. what did the founding fathers say about religion in society? >> well, i looked at virtually all the state, 13 state constitutions. they were all overwhelmingly christian. most of them were even protestant and some of them even required legislators to take some sort of oath of office that recognized jesus christ in their life. washington was not a diest but a practicing christian. they believed the church was essential to good governmen...

We dont want necessarily to see a charismatic leader step into place. that could be dangerous, especially if that person is a military dictator. but we need leadership. we need somebody who -- we need a group of people to come together, the cooperation to establish the infrastructure that egypt doesnt have. we have to remember that here in the united states, and we always try and see everything in terms of our own experience here in the united states, but thats not what they have in egypt. we ha...

Want. so if youre worried about it being too attractive for states, i dont think that is really a problem. but if youre worried about that you simply make it a little harder to get n. you say a state cant file for bankruptcy unless theyve first tried to get their fiscal house in order or you require that they be insolvent. all of these are things we already do with cities under the bankruptcy laws we have for cities. jenna: youre a law professor, you obviously take a close look at the law. is it...

Defend a referendum that was passed by the voters in the state? i mean, states that allow referenda, shouldnt they it be almost mandated to do this? >> their position is were -- we take oaths of office to uphold the federal and state constitutions and their argument has been we cannot, we are legally duty bound not to defend the law that we believe is unconstitutional. >> thats how they get around it. >> right, we believe the governor and attorney general has said prop 8 was unconstitutional and...

Think the prop 8 folks could show harm to themselves. thats the trick is to come up with an argument that would persuade the 9th circuit. >> im confused. why is it that the attorney general of california or the, his office isnt forced to defend a referendum that was passed by the voters in the state? i mean, states that allow referenda, shouldnt they it be almost mandated to do çthis? >> their position is were -- we take oaths of office to uphold the federal and state constitutions and their a...

The tea partiers may be headed toward divide the this defendant -- defeat this november. if democrats can beat tea party republicans in those two big states, they can hold the senate. and another day, another republican wants to look at the changing of the 14th amendment and revoking birth right citizenship. is this nativism a smart direction for the republicans to be taking? well ask the "hardball" strategists. finally, amber alert. whats wrong with this picture? well, it looks harmless eno...

Spent about 100 pages of his opinion doing so, and said he just couldnt really find any good justification for this treatment. the key argument made was that a heterosexual marriage is a better setting in which to raise children and he said the evidence just doesnt seem to support that conclusion. >> you know, the interesting thing is, when youre talking about enshrining in law the notion that people -- opposite sex couples are somehow less than, that theyre inferior to -- or same-sex couples ar...