U.S. Constitution


The People’s Rights Are Inherent And Unalienable

  1. “The rights of the individual are not derived from governmental agencies, either municipal, state or federal, or even from the Constitution. They exist inherently in every man, by endowment of the Creator, and are merely reaffirmed in the Constitution, and restricted only to the extent that they have been voluntarily surrendered by the citizenship to the agencies of government. The people's rights are not derived from the government, but the government's authority comes from the people. The Constitution but states again these rights already existing, and when legislative encroachment by the nation, state, or municipality invade these original and permanent rights, it is the duty of the courts to so declare, and to afford the necessary relief. The fewer restrictions that surround the individual liberties of the citizen, except those for the preservation of the public health, safety, and morals, the more contented the people and the more successful the democracy.” ― City of Dallas v. Mitchell, 245 S.W. 944

The Purpose of Government Is To Protect Our Rights & Property

  1. “The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.” ― James Madison



The Constitution And Government Belong To The People

  1. “A constitution is a thing antecedent to a government, and a government is only the creature of a constitution. The constitution of a country is not the act of its government, but of the people constituting a government. It is the body of elements, to which you can refer, and quote article by article; and which contains the principles on which the government shall be established, the manner in which it shall be organized, the powers it shall have, the mode of elections, the duration of parliaments, or by what other name such bodies may be called; the powers which the executive part of the government shall have; and, in fine, everything that relates to the complete organization of a civil government, and the principles on which it shall act, and by which it shall be bound. ... A constitution, therefore, is to a government, what the laws made afterwards by that government are to a court of judicature. The court of judicature does not make the laws, neither can it alter them; it only acts in conformity to the laws made: and the government is in like manner governed by the constitution.” ― Thomas Paine

  2. “The people of this State [California] do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created. ― Preamble to the Brown Act

The Powers Of The Central Government Are Limited

  1. “The powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.” ― James Madison

  2. “The several states composing the United States of America are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, the constituted a general government for special purposes [and] delegated to that government certain definite powers ...” ― Thomas Jefferson

Exercise Of Undelegated Powers Is Unconstitutional, Null, And Void. The People And Their States Have The RIght And Duty To Interpose And Nullify Such Exercise.

  1. “whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.” ― Thomas Jefferson

  2. “All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void.” ― Marbury v. Madison (5US137, 176; 1803)

  3. “... the Constitution is superior to any ordinary act of the legislature; the Constitution and not such ordinary act, must govern the case to which they both apply. ... Those then who controvert the principle that the constitution is to be considered, in court, as a paramount law, are reduced to the necessity of maintaining that courts must close their eyes on the constitution, and see only the law. This doctrine would subvert the very foundation of all written constitutions.” ... it thus reduces to nothing what we have deemed the greatest improvement on political institutions - a written constitution ...” ― Marbury v. Madison (5US137, 176; 1803)


Rights Cannot Be Abrogated

The rights reserved to the People in the Constitution cannot be narrowed or negated by legislation, government, judges, district attorneys, county counsels, or even state attorney generals.

  1. “Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule making or legislation which would abrogate them.” ― Miranda v. Arizona (384US436)

  2. “Where Congress exceeds its authority relative to the States, therefore, the departure from the constitutional plan cannot be ratified by the ‘consent’ of state officials. …  The constitutional authority of Congress cannot be expanded by the ‘consent’ of the governmental unit whose domain is thereby narrowed, whether that unit is the Executive Branch or the States.” ― New York v. United States, (505US144).

  3. In the United States, sovereignty resides in the people who act through the organs established by the Constitution. ... The Congress as the instrumentality of sovereignty is endowed with certain powers to be exerted on behalf of the people in the manner and with the effect the Constitution ordains. The Congress cannot invoke the sovereign power of the people to override their will as thus declared.”
    ―  Perry v. United States (294US330)

  4. “... we find it intolerable that one Constitutional right should have to be surrendered in order to assert another.” ― Simmons v. U.S. (390US389; 1968)

The Constitution Cannot Be Changed By Construction

  1. “The Constitution is a written instrument. As such, its meaning does not alter. That which it meant when it was adopted, it means now.” ― South Carolina v. United States, 199 US 437, 448 (1905)


  3. “... in determining whether a provision of the Constitution applies to a new subject matter, it is of little significance that it is one with which the framers were not familiar. For in setting up an enduring framework of government they undertook to carry out for the indefinite future and in all the vicissitudes of the changing affairs of men, those fundamental purposes which the instrument itself discloses. Hence we read its words, not as we read legislative codes which are subject to continuous revision with the changing course of events, but as the revelation of the great purposes which were intended to be achieved by the Constitution as a continuing instrument of government. ... If we remember that 'it is a Constitution we are expounding', we cannot rightly prefer, of the possible meanings of its words, that which will defeat rather than effectuate the Constitutional purpose. ― United States v. Class, 313 US 299 (1941)

  4. “No court of justice can be authorized to construe any clause of the constitution as to defeat its obvious ends, when another construction, equally accordant with the words and sense thereof, will enforce and protect them.” Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 41 US 539 (1842)

The People Have the Final Word, Not The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is an appeals court. Despite its desires, it is not the final judge on the Constitution. That right is reserved to the States and ultimately to the People.

  1. “I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet devised by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” - Thomas Jefferson


  3. “... the Constitution and the Amendments in the Bill of Rights show that the Founders were not satisfied with leaving determination of guilt or innocence to judges, even though wholly independent. They further provided that no person should be held to answer in those courts for capital or other infamous crimes unless on the presentment or indictment of a grand jury drawn from the body of the people. Other safeguards designed to protect defendants against oppressive governmental practices were included. One of these was considered so important to liberty of the individual that it appears in two parts of the Constitution. Article III, 2, commands that the ‘Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury ...’. And the Sixth Amendment provides that ‘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 . . . .’” ― Toth v. Quarles (350US11, 1955)

  4. “This right of trial by jury ranks very high in our catalogue of constitutional safeguards.” ― Toth v. Quarles (350US11, 1955). Note: Footnote 9 discloses this language was adopted by nine colonies in 1765 as a declaration of rights.

Juries May Judge The Law

The Supreme Court is an appeals court; it is not the final judge on the Constitution. That right is reserved to the States and ultimately to the People.

  1. “The Jury has a right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy.”
    John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the first President after the American Revolution, 1789.

  2. “The jury has the right to determine both the law and the facts.” ― Samuel Chase, signatory to the Declaration of Independence and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1796.

  3. “The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided.”
    Harlan F. Stone, 12th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1941.

  4. “If a juror feels that the statute involved in any criminal offence is unfair, or that it infringes upon the defendant's natural god-given unalienable or constitutional rights, then it is his duty to affirm that the offending statute is really no law at all and that the violation of it is no crime at all, for no one is bound to obey an unjust law.” Harlan F. Stone, 12th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

  5. “The pages of history shine on instances of the jury's exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge ...” ― U.S. vs. Dougherty, 473 F 2nd 1113, 1139. (1972)

Judges Are Accountable

  1. “It is the duty of courts to be watchful for the constitutional rights of the citizen, and against any stealthy encroachments thereon.” ― Boyd v. U.S., 116US616 (1886) “... a judge is not immune from liability for nonjudicial actions, i.e., actions not taken in the judge’s judicial capacity. ... Second, a judge is not immune for actions, though judicial in nature, taken in the complete absence of all jurisdiction.” ― Mireles v. Waco (502US9, 1991)

  2. “Decency, security and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen.”
    Olmstead v. U.S. (277US438; 1928)

Federal Agents Are Accountable

  1. “violation ... by a federal agent acting under color of his authority gives rise to a cause of action for damages consequent upon his unconstitutional conduct. ... We hold that petitioner is entitled to recover money damages for any injuries he has suffered as a result of the agents’ violation of the (Fourth) Amendment.”
    Bivens v. Federal Narcotics Agents (403US388, 1971)

  2. “victims of a constitutional violation by a federal official have a right to recover damages against the official in federal court despite the absence of any statute conferring such a right. ... punitive damages may be awarded...” ― Carlson v. Green (446US14, 1980)

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