The Libertarian Constitution - Full Text
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. These ends shall be secured by the powers of this new government, which shall be divided into three branches, and no branch shall exercise the authority of any other branch.
Article I: Legislative Branch
SECTION 1
All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Powers not herein granted shall not be exercised.
SECTION 2
The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.
No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice president of the United States, representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the inhabitants of such state, being eighteen years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such citizens shall bear to the whole number of citizens eighteen years of age in such state.
No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, or elector of president and vice president, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability.
The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative, and until such enumeration shall be made, the states shall retain their current representation.
When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
SECTION 3
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, to be chosen however the legislature of that state wishes, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen in the representation of any state in the senate, the executive authority of such state shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies, provided that the legislature of any state may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.
The vice president of the United States shall be president of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro tempore, in the absence of the vice president, or when he shall exercise the office of president of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments, according to rules it shall establish. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the president of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall preside: And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.
SECTION 4
The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators.
The terms of senators and representatives shall end at noon on the third day of January; and the terms of their successors shall then begin. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the third day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.
SECTION 5
Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each house may provide.
Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.
Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.
SECTION 6
The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either house during his continuance in office.
SECTION 7
All bills for raising revenue, by tax or other means, shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with incidental amendments as on other bills. This rule shall apply regardless of whether such revenue is proposed to be placed in any sequestered fund; nor may the Senate originate a bill for raising revenue by means of any amendment to a bill initiated by the House.
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the president of the United States. If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
The president may disapprove any appropriation or item in any bill that he has otherwise signed. In such case he shall, in signing the bill, designate the appropriations or items disapproved; and shall return a copy of such appropriations, with his objections, to the house in which the bill originated; and the same proceedings shall then be had as in case of entire bills disapproved by the president.
Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the president of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
SECTION 8
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; the purpose of such measures is limited to paying the debts and providing for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but the general welfare shall not be construed to refer to the specific welfare of any particular group or individual, and all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes, provided that this provision shall not authorize regulation or prohibition of any non-commercial activity, or of any commercial activity that is confined within a single state regardless of its effects outside the state; but Congress shall have power to regulate harmful emissions between one state and another, regardless of its source;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States, provided that this shall not be construed to authorize legislation prohibiting the entry into the United States of any person entering for peaceful, non-criminal reasons, and who is not suffering a contagious disease;
To coin money and other currency, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, provided that this shall not be construed to permit the making of any currency a legal tender; and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin or currency of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads, provided that this shall not be construed to permit the establishment of any postal monopoly;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for no more than 28 years, to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations;
To declare war, or authorize military action in the absence of an invasion of the United States or its territorial possessions, or an attack upon its citizens residing therein; grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To provide, raise, maintain and support armed forces for the national defense; To make rules for the government and regulation of the armed forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such nonresident district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States— the parts of the existing District of Columbia that do not house the federal government or other federal lands shall revert to Maryland— and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings; and
To make incidental laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof;
Congress shall not impose upon a state, or political subdivision thereof, any obligation or duty to make expenditures unless such expenditures shall be fully reimbursed by the United States; nor shall Congress place any condition on the expenditure or receipt of appropriated funds requiring a state, or political subdivision thereof, to enact a law or regulation restricting the liberties of its citizens or otherwise effecting any power not within the authority of authority of Congress. Should a state decline appropriated funds with conditions on its expenditure, an amount of the appropriation prorated by the population of that state shall be paid to the state as a block grant to be expended for the general purpose of the appropriation.
SECTION 9
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.
No bill of attainder or ex post facto law, whether civil or criminal, shall be passed.
Congress shall make no law laying or collecting taxes upon incomes, gifts, or estates, or direct or capitation tax, or tax upon aggregate consumption or expenditures; but Congress shall have power to levy a uniform tax on the sale of goods or services. Any imposition of or increase in a tax, duty, impost or excise shall require the approval of three fifths of the House of Representatives and three fifths of the Senate, and shall separately be presented to the president of the United States.
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state or tribal lands to any other state or foreign country.
No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state or tribal lands over those of another: nor shall vessels or other modes of transportation bound to, or from, one state or tribal lands, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another.
No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law, all such appropriations to expire after two years; and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State.
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the senators and representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened. Nor shall Congress make any law that does not apply to itself or its own members.
SECTION 10
No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money or issue currency; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold and silver coin, or coin or currency of the United States, a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, whether criminal or civil, or any law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
Neither Congress nor any state or tribal government may lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, to or from another state or foreign nation, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.
No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships or other military equipment in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.
Neither the federal government nor any state or tribal government shall ever give or loan its credit in the aid of, or make any donation or grant, by subsidy or otherwise, to any individual, association, or corporation, or become a subscriber to, or a shareholder in, any company or corporation, or become a joint owner with any person, company, or corporation, except as to such ownerships as may accrue to the state, tribal, or federal government by operation or provision of law or as authorized by law solely for investment of the monies in the various funds of the state, tribal, or federal government.
Neither Congress nor any state shall enact any local or special laws when a general law can be made applicable.
Neither the federal government nor any state shall make any law establishing religion.
All contracts between the government of the United States and other parties stated in dollars, and all dollar sums contained in federal laws, shall be adjusted annually to allow for the change in the general level of prices during the prior year.
SECTION 11
To protect the people against excessive governmental burdens and to promote sound fiscal and monetary policies, total outlays of the government of the United States shall be limited. Total outlays in any fiscal year shall not increase by a percentage greater than the percentage increase in nominal gross national product in the last calendar year ending prior to the beginning of said fiscal year. Total outlays shall include budget and off-budget outlays, and exclude redemptions of the public debt and emergency outlays. If inflation for the last calendar year ending prior to the beginning of any fiscal year is more than three per cent, the permissible percentage increase in total outlays for that fiscal year shall be reduced by one-fourth of the excess of inflation over three per cent. Inflation shall be measured by the difference between the percentage increase in nominal gross national product and the percentage increase in real gross national product. When, for any fiscal year, total revenues received by the government of the United States exceed total outlays, the surplus shall be used to reduce the public debt of the United States until such debt is eliminated. Following declaration of an emergency by the president, Congress may authorize, by a two-thirds vote of both houses, a specified amount of emergency outlays in excess of the limit for the current fiscal year. The limit on total outlays may be changed by a specified amount by a three-fourths vote of both houses of Congress when approved by the Legislatures of a majority of the several states. The change shall become effective for the fiscal year following approval. For each of the first six fiscal years after ratification of this article, total grants to states and local governments shall not be a smaller fraction of total outlays than in the three fiscal years prior to the ratification of this article. Thereafter, if grants are less than that fraction of total outlays, the limit on total outlays shall be decreased by an equivalent amount. The government of the United States shall not require, directly or indirectly, that states or local governments engage in additional or expanded activities without compensation equal to the necessary additional costs. This section may be enforced by one or more members of the Congress in an original action brought in the Supreme Court, and by no other persons. The action shall name as defendant the treasurer of the United States, who shall have authority over outlays by any unit or agency of the government of the United States when required by a court order enforcing the provisions of this article. The order of the court shall not specify the particular outlays to be made or reduced. Changes in outlays necessary to comply with the order of the court shall be made no later than the end of the third full fiscal year following the court order.
Congress shall have the power to adopt implementing legislation, including the adoption of accounting standards which may include the treatment of capital expenditures, accrual of long-term obligations, the retirement of debts, and the creation of a specialized federal court to deal with this provision and any implementing legislation.
Aritlce II: Executive Branch
SECTION 1
The power to execute the laws shall be vested in a president of the United States of America, who shall hold this office during the term of four years, and, together with the vice president, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:
Each state shall appoint a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress; such electors to be chosen by the people of each state in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct.
No senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for president and vice president, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as vice president, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as president, and of all persons voted for as vice president, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the Senate; the president of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for president, shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as president, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the president, the president-elect shall have died, the vice president-elect shall become president.
The person having the greatest number of votes as vice president, shall be the vice president, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the vice president; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice president of the United States. If a president shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the president-elect shall have failed to qualify, then the vice president-elect shall act as president until a president shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a president-elect nor a vice president-elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as president, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a president or vice president shall have qualified.
The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a president whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a vice president whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.
No person except those who have been citizens of the United States for fifteen years prior to the start of their term shall be eligible to the office of president; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fifteen years a resident within the United States. No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice, and no person who has held the office of president, or acted as president, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected president shall be elected to the office of the president more than once.
In case of the removal of the president from office or of his death or resignation, the vice president shall become president. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the vice president, the president shall nominate a vice president who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both houses of Congress.
Whenever the president transmits to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the vice president as acting president.
Whenever the vice president and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the vice president shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as acting president.
Thereafter, when the president transmits to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the vice president and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the vice president shall continue to discharge the same as acting president; otherwise, the president shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
The president shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.
The terms of the president and the vice president shall end at noon on the twentieth day of January; the terms of their successors shall then begin.
Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
SECTION 2
The president shall be commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur; and to exit treaties; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers in the executive branch in the president alone or in the heads of departments, as they think proper; and may vest the appointment of such inferior officers in the judicial branch in the courts of law, as they think proper.
No treaty or other international agreement may enlarge the legislative power of Congress granted by this Constitution, or be enforced within the United States without enabling legislation.
The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, as the Senate itself shall determine pursuant to its rules of proceeding, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.
SECTION 3
He shall from time to time give to the Congress written information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.
SECTION 4
The president, vice president and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, other high crimes and misdemeanors, or other behavior that renders them unfit for office.
SECTION 1
Article III: Judicial Branch
The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
SECTION 2
The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, including those brought by taxpayers to challenge the unlawful expenditure of funds, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more states; between a state and persons; between a tribal government and citizens of that tribe; between citizens of different states, between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.
In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and controversies affecting two or more states, the Supreme Court shall take original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.
No court shall be secret, but justice shall be administered, openly and without purchase, completely and without delay, and every person shall have remedy by due process of law for injury done to life, liberty, or property.
SECTION 3
Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.
Article IV: Interstate Relations
SECTION 1
Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
SECTION 2
The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of a citizen of the United States.
A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.
SECTION 3
New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state, nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress; but Congress may, by law, form a new state from the territory of an existing state upon petition from citizens of that state, the recognition of such petitions to be regulated by Congress.
The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state.
SECTION 4
The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, with appropriate checks and balances, and separation of powers, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic violence. The federal courts shall have jurisdiction to decide whether a state has denied its people a republican form of government.
SECTION 5
Upon the identically-worded resolutions of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states, any law or regulation of the United States, identified with specificity, is thereby rescinded; once rescinded, such a law may be reenacted according to the procedures specified in Article I.
ArticleV: Amendment Process
Whenever two thirds of both Houses of Congress, or one half of the legislatures of the several states, shall deem it necessary, they may propose amendments to this Constitution, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when certified by the chief justice of the United States to have been ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress, or by the legislatures of the several states; provided that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. While an amendment, having been proposed, is pending ratification in the states, a state may revoke its previous ratification at any time before the requisite three fourths of state legislatures have been certified as having ratified the amendment.
Article VI: Constitutional Supremacy
All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as previously.
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
Article VII: Bill of Rights
SECTION 1
No government body or actor shall prohibit the free exercise of any religion; or abridge the freedom of speech, of conscience, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble or associate with each other, or not to associate with each other, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances; or infringe the right to the fruits of one’s labors, or the right to live a peaceful life of one’s choosing. The freedoms of speech and conscience include the freedom to make contributions to political campaigns or candidates for public office, and shall be construed to extend equally to any medium of communication.
SECTION 2
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
SECTION 3
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
SECTION 4
No person shall be disturbed in his private affairs, or his home invaded, without a warrant, except where circumstances will not admit of delay, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
SECTION 5
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb, regardless of which government does so; nor shall private property or any person’s personal services be taken for private use regardless of purpose, or taken for public use without just compensation. If the existing rights to use, divide, sell or possess private real property are reduced by the enactment or application of any law enacted after the date the property is transferred to the owner and such action reduces the fair market value of the property the owner is entitled to just compensation. No private property shall be taken or damaged without just compensation having first been made, paid into court for the owner, secured by bond as may be fixed by a court, or paid into the treasury for the owner on such terms and conditions as Congress may provide. Whenever an attempt is made to take private property for a use alleged to be public, the question whether such use be really public shall be a judicial one, to be determined independent of any legislative assertion that the use is public.
SECTION 6
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. The government shall bear the burden of demonstrating, by clear and convincing evidence, that any waiver of such rights shall be knowing, intelligent, and voluntary.
SECTION 7
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed one thousand dollars, as adjusted for inflation every ten years after ratification, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
SECTION 8
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
SECTION 9
Neither slavery, nor military conscription, nor involuntary servitude— including compulsory labor for any government— except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
SECTION 10
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and owing allegiance thereto, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. Neither the government of the United States, nor any state or tribal government, shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the natural or civil rights of citizens of the United States; or deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; or deny to any person within their jurisdictions the equal protection of the laws.
The use of “he” and “his” in this Constitution shall include all persons.
SECTION 11
The due process of law shall be construed to provide the opportunity to introduce evidence or otherwise show that a law, regulation or order is an infringement of such rights of any citizen or legal resident of the United States, and the party defending the challenged law, regulation, or order shall have the burden of establishing its basis in law and conformity with this Constitution. No person shall be criminally punished without a judicial process to ascertain whether that person was guilty of violating a validly enacted statute that is within the proper power of Congress or a state legislature to enact. All persons are presumptively at liberty to enjoy and use their life, liberty, or property in their best judgment, and whenever a federal, state, or tribal government shall infringe upon this right, and any person petition for redress, courts shall determine whether that government has constitutional authority for its action and a genuine justification for its restriction or regulation.
SECTION 12
The right of citizens of the United States who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state or tribal government, except as condition of punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Nor shall the right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for president or vice president, for electors for president or vice president, or for senator or representative in Congress, be denied or abridged by the United States or any state or tribal government by reason of failure to pay any poll tax. Any citizen temporarily residing in the non-residential district constituting the seat of government of the United States shall be considered a citizen of the state whence he came. Congress shall have power to enforce this provision by appropriate legislation.
SECTION 13
The right of the people to buy and sell lawful goods and services at mutually acceptable terms shall not be infringed by Congress or any state or tribal government.
SECTION 14
Congress shall have power to establish legal causes of action for violations of this Article.
SECTION 15
All persons are equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights which they retain when forming any government, amongst which are the enjoying, defending and preserving of their life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting real and personal property, making binding contracts of their choosing, and pursuing their happiness and safety. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people, or make those enumerated rights superior to or more enforceable than unenumerated rights.
SECTION 16
The powers not expressly delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. And we mean it.
Article VI: Constitutional Supremacy
The ratification of the conventions of thirty-five states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying the same. The words and phrases of this Constitution shall be interpreted according to their public meaning at the time of their enactment, which meaning shall remain the same until changed pursuant to Article V.
