Voter ID and The Constitution

By Rich Kozlovich

On April 26, 2025  James Fite posted this article at Liberty Nation News, Voter ID: Where the President, the People and the Constitution Stand, saying "popular doesn’t necessarily equal constitutional".

He goes on to explain:

DC District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly  ruled that states don’t have to make voters show ID at the polls or show proof of citizenship to register. Trump is a fan of voter ID requirements, and so are most Americans, according to polling. But if the Constitution doesn’t support that position, then neither public opinion nor the president’s order makes it legal.

First, the DC District is filled with leftist political hacks, and she's one of them.  He then goes on to point out the Constitution defines the rules governing the federal government's role in national elections quoting the first paragraph of Article I, Section 4 which reads:

“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 chusing Senators.”

He went on to explain:

Each state is explicitly granted the authority to determine when, where, and how US senators and representatives are elected. Then there’s an exception to that authority: Congress can legislate it at any time (well, all except the polling places). Note the lack of authorization for a president to override the states. The federal government can step in, but it has to be through the standard legislative process ......

He goes on to justify Judge Kollar-Kotelly's ruling noting there's nothing in the Constitution that allows the President to short circuit the legislative process, and she's right, but since when did that matter to the judiciary?  All of a sudden the leftist hacks in the federal judiciary are in love with the actual wording in the Constitution, incapable of seeing any penumbras or emanations of the Constitution to justify the President imposing voter ID on the states.  

Penumbras and emanations of the Constitution is a concept created by the judiciary, that also appears nowhere in the Constitution, but it allows them to bypass the legislative process in order find imaginary rights in order to impose laws on the nation no one passed, like the abortion, and the Chevron decisions.  It's kinda like how Hollywood twists inconvenient history in their movies with the attitude, "if it didn't happen that way, it should have".  

Yet, clearly it was the intent of the Founding Fathers that only citizens should be allowed to vote.  So, why wouldn't that justify taking the position the President was merely enforcing an unwritten law.  An unwritten law that was an obvious and understood unwritten law.  An unwritten law that didn't need to be written through the legislative process? 

Andrea posted this article in 2021, Clarence Thomas identifies the greatest danger in America, saying :

Article III of the Constitution of the United States establishes a “supreme Court.” .........While Art III limits somewhat the nature of the cases the Supreme Court may hear, it does not impose any checks or balances on the Supreme Court’s power.  Then, in 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall extended the Court’s power, holding that Article III’s grant of authority inevitably gave the Court the power to overturn unconstitutional legislation. The result is a Supreme Court that has freely rewritten the Constitution to achieve political ends—and turned the Court itself from what should be a neutral judicial institution into one that has become the partisan center of D.C.

The Constitution gave Justice Marshall no such authority. The Constitution says the jurisdiction of the federal judiciary is in the hands of the Congress, not the Supreme Court. 

The public is hugely in favor of Voter ID with 98% of Republican, 84% of independents and 67% of Democrats in support.  Five states already require it, another 40 are considering doing so, and currently there's legislation introduced by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas that's passed the House called "The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act", that's in the Senate.  But it must meet the 60-vote threshold to get voted on.  Why 60 votes?  

In 1975, the Senate reduced the number of votes required for cloture from two-thirds of senators voting to three-fifths of all senators duly chosen and sworn, or 60 of the current 100 senators. Today, filibusters remain a part of Senate practice, although only on legislation.

Will it pass the Senate?  Who knows?  If all 53 Republicans sign on, including Murkowski, Collins, Mitch McConnell, which is iffy, that would take seven Democrats to cross over.  Given the mental and moral unfitness of so many Republicans in the Senate, I don't think it can happen unless at least a minimum of ten Democrats cross over, and I really don't see that happening.

So, why is it the courts can't find even one little penumbra or tiny emanation to justify Trump's policy?  Because  the federal judiciary is rife with incompetent, not very bright, corrupt political hacks who can't be fired.  That's what needs changing.

What If We Could Rewrite the Constitution?

By Rich Kozlovich

Culture is a universally accepted set of foundational beliefs and perceptions that lead to the formation of a society, presumably, and hopefully, a stable society.  We now have an issue with what's universally accepted.  So, what if we could re-write the Constitution?   There's a lot of talk about an Article V Convention to fix all the issues confounding America today.   Well, that's interesting because we no longer have a universally accepted cultural foundation.   Also, we don't really know what would happen if such a convention was convened.  

While I've read conflicting opinions, I'm convinced once the states decide the Constitution needs serious adjustment via an Article V Convention, that Convention can go pretty much where it pleases.  Just because it may start out with just wanting a balanced budget, there's nothing from preventing them from going way beyond that. 

Since there's absolutely no outline, rules, nor restrictions in the Constitution for what an Article V Convention may do, but the clear intent of the Founding Fathers was neither the Congress, the President of the United States or the courts can interfere, simply by not saying they could interfere, or make rules up to control the Convention.

But what would everyone want in a new Constitution?  It's hard to say, but make no mistake, without conservatives taking strong stands, the left would go full Marxist.  But here's what I think should done instead.  

For years I’ve been saying we need a 28th Amendment to fix the biggest mistake the Founding Fathers made. Lifetime appointments to the federal judiciary.

Of course, at that time the only federal court was the Supreme Court of the U.S., but that’s changed dramatically over the years. Now there are 94 district courts, 13 circuit courts, and one Supreme Court, and each and every one of them is shot full of not very bright, incompetent political hacks, including SCOTUS, the only Constitutionally mandated federal court. All the rest are creations of the Congress, and any one of them can be eliminated by Congress, which Congress did in the 19th century.   Believe it or not, the Constitution gives the Congress the authority to determine the jurisdiction of the federal judiciary, not federal jurists, nor SCOTUS.   But since Congress refuses to put the federal judiciary in their place, it's my view has been there needs to be a 28th Amendment creating term and age limits for the federal judiciary, and done so in this manner:

There are three levels of the federal judiciary:  The District level, the Appeals level and the Supreme Court. Each level should have a ten year limit with a review after five years requiring a majority approval by the Senate.  At each level each nominee would have to go through the same process, even if nominated to a higher court before they finish their term in a lower court. If their term runs out and they’re not nominated to a higher court they may be nominated at some point in the future.  No jurist can return to a lower court if their term runs its course at a higher level, and no jurist can ever be appointed to a court if their nomination to any court has ever been rejected by the Senate.  No jurist may serve after the age of seventy.  Make 9 Justices a Constitutionally fixed number to avoid the kind of court packing FDR attempted to do, and Joe Biden and the Democrats are attempting to do now.

But as time has gone by I realized that wasn't nearly enough to fix the nation.  You know those commercials that spout, "But wait.  There's more!"  Well, I decided what's needed is "a lot more" in an all "New and Improved" 28th Amendment.  An all new and improved omnibus Amendment addressing a host of Constitutional issues in order to fix the nation.  I've added sixteen sections to this amendment.

1. My new and improved 28th Amendment shall not only fix the judiciary with term and age limits, and fix the number of SCOTUS members at nine, it should also include term limits for all federally elected officials.  Three two year terms for the House of Representatives.  Repeal the 17th Amendment, and give Senators one six term. The Founding Fathers created the House to represent the public, and the Senate to represent the states.  Senators were appointed by the states to be de facto ambassadors to the central government in order to prevent what we're seeing right now.  A federal government out of control.  
2. All federally elected officials may be recalled by their states.  The House members by public vote by whatever margin the states may choose, and Senators by agreement between their state legislatures and their governors.  
   
3. Repeal the 16th Amendment.  End income tax.  
4. Eliminate the FED and return the nation's financial responsibilities over the Legislative and Executive branches, in order to make them accountable.
5. Repeal the 26th Amendment that gave 18 year olds the right to vote in federal elections, and raise the voting age to 30.  The right to vote should be earned, and that can only be done with time, including serving in the military.  By age 30 people's brains start to work properly.
   
6. Create sunset mandates that cover all laws, regulations, taxes, and government agencies.  And these sunset clauses should include all departments of the federal government except State, Treasury, Justice, Interior, and Defense.  
7. Congress shall define in the clearest possible terms the five permanent departments must recognize the Constitution is the law governing government, or face charges of treason, or sedition.
8. Every budget the House of Representatives and the Senate send to the President must be balanced, and the Congress must present a yearly budget to the President, by a specified date.  If they fail to do so, they will cease being paid until they do, and it's approved.
   
9. Retire the national debt, with a hard debt limit.  A debt limit which can only be overturned by approval of four fifths of each of the houses of Congress and the President of the United States.
10. These five departments should be eliminated entirely:  the Department of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Energy, and Labor.  All others can be folded into the five permanent departments, or preferably become agencies, bureaus, etc, all with sunset reviews.    
    
11. Make all federally elected officials, and their staffs, employees of their state governments ending their federal employee status.   The states shall determine the size of their staff, provide office space, and fund the employment benefits for all.  All federal retirement funds for these personnel shall be sent to the states for appropriate distribution.  Security shall be provided by the Federal government.  
12. Strengthen the First Amendment.
13. Strengthen the Second Amendment preventing local or state authorities from passing gun laws without the approval of Congress and the President of the United States. 
14. Washington D.C. is a city that shall be totally governed by the federal government, and cannot have representatives in the Congress.  
    
15. No state may change the Electoral College system requiring all their electoral votes go to the popular vote winner.  
16. Strengthen immigration restrictions, stating, immigration into America is not a right.

And that's the way I see it.