Supreme Court Curtails Civil Asset Forfeiture (Constitution news round-up)

Webinar: Conscience as the Most Sacred Form of Property.  Explore Madison’s thought that natural rights are our property, with Gary Porter the evening of March 11th.  $10 - register here -
 https://www.facebookstore.net/category_s/117.htm

8A: Supreme Court unanimously rules state and local governments may not impose excessive fines, which will sharply curtail their use of abusive civil asset forfeitures
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/20/supreme-court-states-cant-impose-excessive-fees-fines-forfeitures/2919411002/

8A: Ending Civil Asset Forfeiture Abuse in Tennessee (new article by Knoxville Tea Party)
https://www.potomacteaparty.com/civil-asset-forfeiture.html

8A: Supreme Court finds Texas man intellectually disabled, blocks his execution
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/20/696178809/supreme-court-blocks-texas-from-executing-mentally-disabled-man

14A: city ordinance barring female toplessness discriminates against women, 10th Circuit panel rules.  Women’s breasts are not erotic, that’s just a stereotype, opinion says. Glad we got that straightened out.
https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/tenth-circuit-ruling-attacks-stereotype-that-womens-breasts-are-erotic/

Separation of Powers: 16 states file suit against the President’s national emergency declaration, arguing Congress did not appropriate for the wall the money Trump is repurposing
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/18/politics/xavier-becerra-lawsuit-national-emergency/index.html

Census: Supreme Court to rule quickly on whether citizenship question can be put on census form. (Article I, Section 2, Clause 3)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-agrees-quickly-rule-citizenship-question-census-n971561

Appointments Clause: appointments to the Puerto Rico bankruptcy board held unconstitutional; board members deemed ‘officers of the U.S.’ but not confirmed by the Senate
http://reason.com/volokh/2019/02/15/the-invalidation-of-the-promesa-appointm

1A: 14 of 15 criminal charges against Center for Medical Progress journalist dismissed in connection with undercover baby parts sting videos involving Planned Parenthood
https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jun/21/court-dismisses-14-charges-pro-life-journalist/?fbclid=IwAR3T-TMrt20E2GhOCPq6ENapoiDi4FcgQ4NDjYy2PnP5O4nZAO-0Y5xRNtk

1A: 7th Circuit panel upholds Chicago ‘bubble zone’ ordinance prohibiting ‘sidewalk counseling’ near abortion clinics, but relies on discredited Supreme Court precedent
https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/seventh-circuit-properly-applies-discredited-supreme-court-precedent/

2A: study finds that comprehensive background checks for gun sales did not reduce homicide or suicide rates in a 10-year period in California. 
https://health.ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/13362
 
2A: New York bill would require examination of years of your Internet activity before you could buy a gun
https://dcdirtylaundry.com/all-your-google-searches-will-now-be-used-against-you-by-the-state-to-block-your-right-to-buy-a-gun/

4A: police officer touching a tire is a search under property rights (trespass) theory of the Fourth Amendment (5th Circuit)
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/17/17-40299-CR0.pdf

4A: it is NOT reasonable for officers to assume that a woman who answers the door in a bathrobe has authority to consent to a search of a male suspect's residence (7th Circuit)
http://media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/rssExec.pl?Submit=Display&Path=Y2019/D02-14/C:18-1305:J:Barrett:aut:T:fnOp:N:2293819:S:0

5A: many eminent domain headaches await Trump’s border wall
https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/trump-s-border-wall-faces-texas-size-backlash-from-land-owners

13A: New Hampshire bill would impose Medicaid quota on doctors
https://aapsonline.org/new-hampshire-proposes-involuntary-servitude-for-medical-professionals/

14A: Supreme Court case to test contours of idea lawyers can’t use peremptory challenges to exclude jurors for racial reasons
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/politics/black-jurors-constitution-curtis-flowers.html

14A: Washington State “misleading voter initiative seeks to repeal I-200, which banned state-sponsored discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, sex, etc.”
http://reason.com/volokh/2019/02/14/washington-state-voters-should-take-noti

21A: “residency requirements for retail liquor licenses in Tennessee has raised an array of legal and constitutional questions”
https://constitutioncenter.org/blog

Article V Convention: Arkansas becomes the 13th of 34 states needed to approve constitutional convention
https://www.helena-arkansas.com/news/20190217/arkansas-joins-call-to-amend-constitution

Libel: Justice Thomas wants Court to reexamine New York Times v. Sullivan defamation precedent and possibly make it easier for public figures to sue media outlets for fake news
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-cosby/justice-thomas-calls-for-reconsidering-landmark-us-defamation-ruling-idUSKCN1Q81T0

Judicial supremacy is inconsistent with popular sovereignty, i.e. the rightful authority of a self-governing people
https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/carson-holloway/us-constitution-rejects-premise-judicial-supremacy-and-so-should-all

February 15, 1879 - the day women were first permitted to argue before the Supreme Court
https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-women-first-allowed-to-argue-supreme-court-cases

Kudos! 6- and 8-year-old boys stop, place their hand over their heart, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance as flag raised at their North Carolina town’s firehouse
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/13/derrick-ingram-thomas-jones-roseboro-pledge-allegi/