Upon hearing of his passing on Monday morning, the one thing that immediately came to mind for me was the day in 2005 when he took a stand on the Senate floor against pseudo-historian David Barton.

What we are witnessing today in depressing, even contemptible form is a GOP-led congressional subversion of two of the most elementary norms on which our government rests.

Scalia has a right to believe voting rights are a "perpetuation of racial entitlement" for blacks and Hispanics, but should promote this repellent and biased view on conservative talk radio, not the court.

Congress can work mischief of its own. The Senate can hold up patently qualified nominees interminably. Or a majority of the House of Representatives may disable the Senate from going into "the recess" for no reason other than to preserve the filibustering prerogatives of a Senate minority.

Having few ideas of one's own and repeatedly finding a way to deny Democratic action to meet modern day problems can hardly be claimed as a Senatorial privilege -- which, of course, it is not.

Of course, the Senate is not intended to be a rubber stamp. But stalling nomination votes simply to keep laws from being enforced -- effectively repealing the laws that cannot be enforced without the nominees in place -- is utterly inconsistent with the Senate's proper confirmation role.

The Constitution does not explicitly state that the Supreme Court has the right to review laws and declare them constitutional or not. In fact, the Supreme Court gave themselves this power in Marbury v. Madison.

The Justice Department's release of on Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion regarding President Obama's recess appointments power is a welcome display of public accountability. However one analyzes the bottom line, the opinion is a model of the genre.

For all the brouhaha surrounding President Obama's recess appointments this week of three new members for the National Labor Relations Board and of Ri...

Gingrich apparently has this view that judicial independence and separation of powers are some quaint old relics that have seen better days.

The GOP keeps insisting that judges be held accountable; that somehow public opinion should influence outcomes. Nothing could be more inaccurate or contrary to constitutional principles.

If the president cannot pay off America's creditors and keep all government programs running, what legal authority does he have to deal with the crisis?

We must separate our ire at the Congress of the moment from the nobility of the legislative task performed by the people we choose, and demand that congressional pay be doubled -- at least.

Members of Congress have abdicated to the president their constitutional responsibilities because of slavish devotion, staggering constitutional illiteracy, and a vassal-like conviction that the executive branch knows best.

Precisely because Americans are easily distracted -- because, as study after study shows, they are clueless about their rights -- the American governmental scheme is sliding ever closer toward authoritarianism.

Mr. President, the advice you received on how to veto this bill was fatally defective. Yes, some of your predecessors have used this gambit, but it's an affront to the Constitution, it's unnecessary, and it thwarts the separation of powers.

As Obama tasks our independent judiciary with trying more suspected 9/11 terrorists, count me among those who agree with Mayor Giuliani's first position on trying alleged terrorists in US courts: in the yes column

The intriguing debate continues on President Obama's use of signing statements to protest provisions of statutes he is signing into law.

As he prepares to take the oath of office, Barack Obama's biggest political roadblock may end up being institutional hurdles rather than a united Repu...

With supporters clamoring for the new president to wipe away Bush-era policies with a stroke of a pen, how can the new president wield his own pen without embracing the Bush assault on constitutionalism?

I'm not worried about whether checks and balances will disappear if Republicans don't have more than 40 seats in the Senate. True checks and balances are more fundamental than party affiliation.

During the run-up to the election that made Sarah Palin the governor of Alaska, the right-wing pro-life group Eagle Forum sent a detailed questionnair...

WASHINGTON — The next time the president goes to war, Congress should be consulted and vote on whether it agrees, according to a bipartisan stud...