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Constitution Design 101, a learn-as-I-go effort. by kelli2172005-03-29 12:12:46
  Part 2: Article 1: Limitations of Power by kelli217 2005-04-06 11:23:54
The following are rights of the people that derive and extend from the rights of life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness, and the government shall not infringe on any of them.
  1. The government shall not inhibit the free access and dissemination of information, unless such access or dissemination poses a direct threat to the rights of the people.
  2. The government shall not inhibit the free exercise and practice of religion, unless such exercise or practice poses a direct threat to the rights of the people.
  3. The government shall not inhibit the free choice of association nor the freedom to gather together for the purpose of political discussion or public complaint, unless the exercise of these freedoms poses a direct threat to the rights of the people.
  4. The government shall not engage in any practice of religion that would tend to raise one religion higher than another.
  5. The government shall not inhibit the defense of the rights of oneself or others against incursions by any person or organization, by any reasonable means as necessary to insure that defense, including but not limited to the ownership of personal weaponry.
  6. The government shall not extend the rights of the people to any collective entity or legal fiction.
  7. The government shall not intrude into the agreements made by any people, unless such agreement infringes the rights of the people.
  8. The government shall not inhibit any action undertaken between informed and consenting individuals in the privacy of their own houses or other residence, unless such action poses a direct threat to the rights of the people.
  9. The government shall not intrude into the houses or other residence nor any other property of the people for any purpose, including the defense of the rights of the people, without either a demonstrable immediate or ongoing threat to those rights, or a judicial warrant establishing the specific person, place, or thing to be searched and the specific threat to the rights of the people being asserted.
  10. The government shall not establish any cruel and unusual punishment for any offense, and must prove guilt beyond all doubt in any capital conviction.
  11. The government shall not make any law nor any order with the force of law that does not specifically name the threat to the rights of the people it is intended to prevent or ameliorate, and the specific provision in this Constitution that grants the government to make such a law or order.
  12. The government shall not hold anyone charged with any crime against the rights of the people without the indictment of a grand jury, unless such crime was committed by a member of the armed forces while actively engaged in duty or on the premises of a military facility.
  13. The government shall not hold anyone for trial for the same offense more than once.
  14. The government shall not compel any defendant in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.
  15. The government shall not infringe the rights of the people as punishment for any offense without following the due process of law.
  16. The government shall not delay unnecessarily the process of trial.
  17. The government shall not convict for any offense without trial by an impartial jury of peers.
  18. The government shall not prevent any defendant in any criminal case from being confronted by the witnesses for the prosecution.
  19. The government shall not inhibit the compulsory process of securing witnesses for any defendant in any criminal case.
  20. The government shall not condemn nor confiscate the property of any person without fair compensation at market value.
  21. The government shall not deny trial by jury to any person involved in common law actions where significant value is in question.
  22. The government shall not reexamine any case tried by jury except by the rules of common law.
  23. The government shall not impose excessive fines nor require excessive bail.
  24. The government shall not use this list of rights to deny the people of any rights not listed.
  25. The government shall not assume for itself any powers or privileges not explicitly granted to it by this constitution.
  26. The government shall not assume jurisdiction in any case against an independent government within its borders brought by any person not subject to the independent government.
  27. The government shall not permit the slavery or involuntary service of any person unless the person is being held as punishment for a duly convicted offense.
  28. The government shall not deny citizenship to any people born or naturalized within this country.
  29. The government shall not limit or deny the exercise of the vote to any citizen having reached the minimum age, said minimum to be set no higher than sixteen years of age.
  30. The government shall not deny any right of the people to any person having attained the age of sixteen years on the basis of age.
  31. The government shall not deny any right of the people except the exercise of the vote to any person living or visiting within its borders on the basis of lack of citizenship.
  32. The government shall not construe any specific basis for limitation on a specific right to allow any limitation of any other rights on any other basis.
  33. The government shall not construe the grant of any specific power to it by this constitution as a basis to deny the exercise of that power by other entities.
These limitations on the powers of the government shall extend to any government contained within its borders. No private entity may limit these rights without the expressed permission of those to be limited, describing specifically the rights to be limited and the basis for each limitation.
[ Reply ]
    Wow by MatthewDBA2005-04-08 12:27:04
      Wow indeed. Gotta lock them suckers down. by kelli2172005-04-08 13:13:30
        Okay by MatthewDBA2005-04-08 21:55:02

 

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