It's Time to Evict the Constitutional Squatters By Rita Peters, Esq., National Legislative Strategist for the Convention of States Project

Attachment: 3984/Article15-TimeToEvictConstitutionalSquatters_COSA122022.pdf

When our government’s  “interpretations” of the  Constitution don’t seem to  square with what we read in  black and white, it is usually  because they don’t square  with the Constitution.    IT’S TIME TO EVICT THE   CONSTITUTIONAL SQUATTERS  RITA DUNAWAY, ESQ., NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE STRATEGIST FOR CONVENTION OF STATES ACTION Updated November 2022      There is only one way to deal with  squatters. As a law school student, I remember be- ing outraged when I learned that if a  landowner does not begin the legal evic- tion process within a prescribed period  of time, a brazen trespasser can actually  acquire title to real estate. It’s called “adverse possession,” and it’s  happening today in a context that is less  tangible but far more alarming. Today in  Washington, D.C., we have a Congress,  President, Supreme Court, and a slew of  administrative agencies acting as consti- tutional squatters. They are brazen trespassers, having taken  up residence in jurisdictions that belong  to the states—openly claiming power to  mandate state recognition of marriages  that defy the states’ constitutions, to reg- ulate businesses out of existence, to dictate  farming and conservation practices, and  to bully state and local education depart- ments into accepting federal programs. They have even injected themselves into  our personal business, mandating that  we buy certain health insurance policies,  for instance. The American people have grown so ac- customed to seeing the feds occupy this  territory that many no longer bother to  consult their pocket Constitutions in an  effort to identify any source of authority  for these actions. The Supreme Court de- cisions upholding them are so lengthy and  contrived that most Americans have given  up on understanding them, concluding  that the Constitution must be too complex  for ordinary people to comprehend. While a simple reading of Articles I and  II appears to indicate that neither Con- gress nor the President has any legitimate  power over education, health insurance, or  the environment, we are “jargoned” and  “precedented” into submission by dense,  complex judicial pronouncements inter- preting federal laws like the Affordable  Care Act, which rival the works of Tolstoy  in length and might as well have been  written in his native tongue. Regular, hard-working people raising fami- lies probably have no clue how the Anti-In- junction Act figures into their health insur- ance situation, but they know the upshot is  that they must buy the insurance the feds  want them to have, or be punished. “Theirs  not to reason why, theirs but to do and die…” As a young lawyer fresh out of school, I  often failed to question the judgments of  more seasoned attorneys, always assuming  they knew something I didn’t. I’m sure that  was true enough, plenty of the time. But as  time went on, I came to understand that of- ten what seemed like a bad judgment call  to me really was a bad judgment call. And  it was my duty to point it out in the proper  tone and forum. Continued on back page We will lose the  protection of original  constitutional  boundaries if we  fail to enforce them  through Article V.  Continued from front page Here’s what I’m getting at: The average  American isn’t so ignorant, nor the aver- age judge, congressman, president, or bu- reaucrat so brilliant, as we might think.  The Constitution is for us, and it is not so  complex that we should despair of under- standing it. When our government’s “interpretations”  of the Constitution don’t seem to square  with what we read in black and white, it  is usually because they don’t square with  the Constitution, and our President,  Congress, courts, and countless busy bu- reaucrats are really acting without proper  constitutional authority. The feds have rudely pitched their tent on  the front lawn of our liberty, and it’s time  we served them their eviction notice. Just as landowners have the right and  duty to invoke a legal process (eviction)  to deal with squatters in property cases,  the American people have the right and  duty to invoke a particular constitu- tional process to restore the balance of  power among the national government,  the states, and the people. It’s found in  Article V of the Constitution, and it’s  called a Convention of States for pro- posing amendments. But here’s the rub: Just as legal property  owners lose their title if they fail to act,  so we will lose the protection of original  constitutional boundaries if we fail to en- force them through Article V. You don’t have to take my word for it. In  a law review article published last year,  Boston College Law School Assistant  Professor Richard Albert explained: “There are several other more flexible  modes of constitutional change that do not  rely on the mechanistic procedures of Ar- ticle V in order to keep the constitutional  regime current and reflective of the new  social and political equilibria. They result  in unwritten changes to the Constitution  that may be as constraining as a formal  amendment. That the United States Con- stitution is both written and unwritten is  therefore now uncontroversial.” What Albert describes as the “un- written” Constitution, achieved by  “more flexible modes of constitutional  change,” is just like the “unwritten” le- gal title that squatters achieve when the  rightful owner fails to defend his prop- erty. Ultimately, it comes to have the  same force and effect as a written deed  to the family farm. Every student of American history knows  that legitimate government depends upon  the consent of the governed. The legal  title to government is vested in us, and  with it the right and duty to defend our  title against trespassers. I urge you to join with Convention of  States Action to evict the constitutional  squatters.  (540)441-7227 |  C ONVENTION O F S TATES . COM  | Facebook.com/ConventionOfStates| | Twitter.com/COSproject