Now, precisely where in the U.S. Constitution is Congress given the power to “maintain a distinct Federal interest in the integrity and character of professional and amateur sporting contests”? But this is what a bill introduced this past week by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York — dubbed the Sports Wagering Market Integrity … [Read more...]
Can a Nevada Law Pass Constitutional Muster?
Our federal and state constitutions are meant to lay the ground rules for what our governments can and cannot do, spelling out the rights of the individual to be free from the dictates for well-meaning but overweening lawmakers. A recent obscure and little-noted Supreme Court case out of Minnesota tore the heart out of one of those rights by flippantly dismissing the … [Read more...]
If only Shakespeare had written the Constitution
The U.S Constitution was mostly composed by future president James Madison in late 18th Century English. Too bad he had no flair for early 17th Century Shakespeare. In the long-running sit-com “Two and a Half Men,” screwoff urchin Jake Harper (played by Angus T. Jones) protests that his school assignment, Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” is not written in … [Read more...]