‘The Dirty Dozen’

In the words of John Adams, “a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

The writers of “The Dirty Dozen: How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom” take our second President’s warning to heart.

Robert A. Levy and William Mellor are two libertarian-minded activists who think justice has turned a blind eye to government expansion. In the midst of the American judiciary playing fast and loose with the Constitution has been a bipartisan effort to unleash the power of the leviathan state, turning our federal system into a statutory nightmare along the way. But, hey, there’s always work in the law and with the IRS.

The framers of the Constitution intended the elected representatives backed by the people to change the Constitution, if needed, say Levy and Mellor.

“Instead,” claim the authors, “a Court consisting of unelected justices with lifetime appointments has rewritten the Constitution without input from, or accountability to, the people of the United States.”

The book examines and critiques the Supreme Court’s rulings on 12 cases – the most putrid of rotten rulings – that have had drastic effects on constitutional issues such as the general welfare, regulation of commerce, gun owner’s rights, freedom of speech, property rights, equal protection before the law and other civil rights and liberties.

One such case, Helvering v. Davis, justifies a perpetual tax-and-spend congress. In the ruling, the court examines government’s role in promoting the general welfare. It defers as to what promotes general welfare to the congress. So in effect, “congress itself is the monitor of what congress can do.”

This is really a recurring theme throughout the work – the Supreme Court gives an inch, the politicians take a mile.

An everyday abuse that hardly provokes a blink would be congress’ granting the Environmental Protection Agency the power to enact environmental regulations with no more guidance than “keep us safe from pollutants.”

One of the more odious abuses, and the book’s case study of national security versus civil liberties, includes the internment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II.

Other consequences of Supreme Court rulings might seem remote like the fact that there are now 4,000 federal statutory crimes. States’ Rights, schmates rights. You might, if you’re trying to start your own business, be a bit more concerned that one in five occupations now requires licensure – a most effective barrier to entry and tool of crony capitalism. Don’t believe me? Try starting an African hair-braiding business in Tupelo, Miss. You only need 3,200 hours of cosmetology class, according to Levy and Mellor.  

“The most reviled Supreme Court decision in decades,” according to the authors is Kelo v. City of New London (2005), which expanded the government’s already controversial use of eminent domain – that is, to confiscate property for public use. That power now includes confiscation for public benefit. For instance, if your house is sitting on a piece of land the city wants to develop in order to increase tax revenues, you’re crap out of luck if you happen to like the current location of your house. Worse, there need not be any immediate development of the land bullied from you. Just ask Susette Kelo, whose Connecticut neighborhood, which was not blighted, became the marked site of a Pfizer research center. Kelo and her neighbors had to sell their houses, or watch them become condemned, and to this day the neighborhood stands razed with no new development.

“The Dirty Dozen” is levelheaded and rational throughout, quoting from both dissenting Justices and those in the majority. The authors’ own political biases should be obvious. They are not big state liberals, but neither are they big state “compassionate” conservatives a la George W. Bush and Mike Huckabee.

In this political season, the book is a good lesson about where the government derives its authority play universal police force or ubiquitous best friend.

“The Dirty Dozen” is not exhaustive. “So many bad cases; so little space to examine them,” the authors claim. Nor is it a sexy read. At times it reads a lot like, oh, a legal briefing, and can be as tasty as dry hay. No worries, such metaphors are often used to describe reading Aristotle. It’s the ideas and their consequences that will engage you, dear reader.

“Judicial engagement is essential to maintaining our liberties,” is the conviction of Levy and Mellor. But there needs to be a distinction between engagement and activism. It’s protecting our civil rights not saving the world, though by protecting the former you might do more to promote the latter.

– Josh Harrison

Laura Bush memoirs

The first lady – for the next two months, anyway – will be the first one to publish White House memoirs from G-Dubya’s term as president.

According to the AP, Laura Bush met with several publishers this week with interest in publishing the memoirs. She is being represented by high-powered Washington D.C. attorney Robert Barnett, whose clientele also includes President-elect Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton.

Her eventual book contract might end up rivaling Hillary Rodham Clinton’s $8 million deal for 2003’s “Living History,” the AP reported.

NY Times ‘Best Sellers’

Hardcover fiction

1. “The Gate House,” by Nelson DeMille

2. “Extreme Measures,” by Vince Flynn

3. “The Brass Verdict,” by Michael Connelly

4. “The Lucky One,” by Nicholas Sparks

5. “A Good Woman,” by Danielle Steel

Hardcover nonfiction

1. “Dewey,” by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter

2. “Against Medical Advice,” by James Patterson and Hal Friedman

3. “The Snowball,” by Alice Schroeder

4. “A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity,” by Bill O’Reilly

5. “Hot, Flat, and Crowded,” by Thomas L. Friedman