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Author: Paul Engel

Like many of you, I am a product of the public schools. Like many of you I thought the Constitution was for lawyers and judges. One day I read the Constitution, and was surprised to find I didn't need a law degree to understand it. Then I read the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers and even the Anti-Federalist Papers. As I learned more and more about our founding fathers and documents I saw how little we know about how our country was designed to work and how many people just didn't care. I started The Constitution Study to help those who also want read and study our Constitution.

397 – Truth Under Attack

There have always been attacks on what is true. From the serpent in the Garden of Eden asking “Did God really say…” to today’s attempts to quash “disinformation”, truth has been under attack. While many of these attacks have been about what the truth is, over the past couple of generations, the idea of truth itself has been under attack. Why is that so? In the Gospel of John, Jesus said:

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
John 8:32 (NKJV)

Could the answer be that simple? Could the attacks on the very idea of truth simply be attacks on our freedom? If that is true, then what can we do to defend not only our freedom, but the very idea of freedom itself?

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396 – Hard Cases Make Bad Precedent

There is an adage in the legal profession, “Hard cases make bad law.” Well, since cases in this country to not truly make law only precedent, you might be tempted to dismiss this saying. However, since our courts are so devoted to their precedent, we should be very careful when hard cases come to the Supreme Court. For example, one case heard by the court has a very unsavory respondent. The question is, will Mr. Zackey Rahimi’s shady past be used to infringe on the right of the rest of Americans?

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Is the U.S. Department of Education Legal?

With all of the money spent by the federal government to influence state and local education systems, one question never seems to be asked. Is the Department of Education even legal?

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395 – Social Media and Government Communications

Social media has become so much of everyday lives that we often don’t think about its use. This has led to what appears to be a large percentage of Americans developing what can at best be described as “interesting ideas” about the relationship between government and the various social media platforms. Some recent cases heard before the Supreme Court bring the question of the relationship between government actors and social media companies into question. Probably the best well known would be Missouri v. Biden, where the states of Missouri and Louisiana have brought suit claiming that members of the Biden Administration violated the First Amendment by attempting to influence what content would be deleted or deemphasized on various platforms. However, two other cases involving local officials focus on under what circumstances government actors can block access to their social media accounts. While most of the country seems to be focused on Missouri, these two cases bring up some questions the American people should really think about.

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PRESS RELEASE:Release of The Constitution Study Patriots Program

Nashville, TN – November 6, 2023 [The Constitution Study] – The Constitution Study is proud to announce the release of The Constitution Study Patriots program. The Patriots program is not meant to replace or supplant existing groups or movements, but to help those groups be more constitutionally minded and therefore more effective. Before someone can…

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394 – Placing Politics Above Children?

Studies show that the best outcomes for children is to live in a home with their married parents. If the world were perfect, then all children would have that chance. But the world isn’t perfect, and either by accident or as the consequences of the actions of adults, children will be in need of people to step in for their parents. In our modern society, the role of finding homes for these children has been filled by the state government. What happens when those government entities place politics above the needs of their charges? A recent case in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts deals with that very topic. Plaintiffs Michael and Catherine Burke claim that the State of Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) discriminated against them in their application to become foster parents for religious reasons. When I looked at the case what I saw wasn’t so much religious discrimination, but DCF placing political viewpoints above not only the Constitution of Massachusetts, but what is best for the children in their care.

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393 – Public Recording

Do you have a right to record people in public? A recent case out of Oregon asked that very question, can states restrict who and when people can record the conversations in public. Oregon law prohibiting recording public conversation except in certain limited circumstances was challenged by Project Veritas. As is so often the case, both the legal challenges and judicial opinion make some questionable constitutional claims. This is why we’re going to look at the opinion of the Ninth Circuit Court Panel and decide for ourselves, does recording the public conversations of others violate the law or does the law violate the Constitution?

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