My Legal Education

I learned something this past week from my Constitutional Law professer (aka the Godfather of Baylor Law). Prof. Guinn has been teaching Con Law since the Cold War and is one of my favorite professors ever.

He has a wealth of knowledge. Recently he used a phrase that I will never forget, that I absolutely love:

The Phrase:

Country

Bumpkin

Now, you may know what this is. But I'd never heard of it before. It sounds really cute, especially when Godfather Guinn says it. However, the meaning of the word is not as endearing. Basically it's a uneducated country person who uses non-politically correct speech without knowing how offensive it is.

When I think about it I want to just giggle. Isn't it cute? Say it three times, you'll agree.

Bet Ya Didn't Know This About the Constitution!-Part 2

Ever get frustrated by those people who protest military funerals?

Or get tired of hearing people say that Mormons aren't Christians?

What about when people say the US has become a Muslim-run country?

Pretty much any inflammatory statement that to you, and the common sense you know is just wrong.

Does it make you mad?

Do you think to yourself, "That should be illegal"

Or "That's a straight-up lie, people shouldn't be allowed to say that"

Well there's a reason why it's not. And there's a solution on how YOU can fix it.


The 1st Amendment to the Constitution reads:

When people say outrageous things, they are exercising their freedom of speech.

Under the First Amendment, their speech cannot be unlawful.

That means, you can't censor it.

But what can you do?

The Supreme Court- those who get the last word on what the Constitution means- has said that if there's outrageous speech, inflammatory speech, or false speech out then the answer is:

 MORE SPEECH

If someone is polluting the marketplace of ideas, it is your job to clean it up. 

It is your job to put out correct ideas and correct information.

Pacifism has become the norm in the word today. People don't like what they hear and they shake their head and walk away. Well that's not any way to solve the problem.

The right thing to do is to put the truth out there. To say your opinion.

I hope that people will change. That when there are crazy folks saying crazy things, people speak up and flood the world with truth.

I think the LDS Church is starting to handle it. The Church is about to do a huge media blitz in the Central Texas Area. I could not be happier. I'm excited to see if this has an effect.

So remember: 

THE ANSWER TO SPEECH IS MORE SPEECH.

(not censorship)

SO SPEAK UP

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Sidenote: Thanks for all the kind wishes for our Watermelon! I hope to have a positive report in a few weeks!

Gift for a Great Man

If you don't know me well, know this: I tend to expect the best in people. I do this to a fault. I am too critical of myself or others. And I'm working on lightening up about it.

That said, I have had a great class from a professor who has exceeded my "great expectations." I have a great appreciation and respect for this man. He is dedicated to academics. He is always respectful of students. He is always willing to listen to whatever silly thing we want to tell him without getting impatient or annoyed. He also knows how to make class fun.

Who's this guy? Why, he's Professor Guinn. Grandpa Guinn. Godfather Guinn. He's my Constitutional Law professor. And tradition at Baylor says that the Constitutional Law class should give this grand professor a gift. Yes, a gift. A little 'thank you' present from his students.

Now in the past he's received some very nice and expensive ties. He's received some bottles of Wild Turkey (it's some sort of expensive alcohol. I'm not really sure what kind). But our class is a BIG class. So we could afford to do something extra special.

That's right, we bought him a shotgun. So he can exercise his 2nd amendment rights. We also gave him a gift card to Hooters (I was less than excited about this part). So he can excercise his 1st amendment right to symbolic speech.

It was a lot of fun. Anytime you can give a 90+ yr. old man a gift that brings tears to his eyes... it's worth it. 

He's a fantastic professor, someone I hope to emulate someday, and I am very grateful I got to take his class.

Bet Ya Didn't Know This About the Constitution!

I've been thinking about this for sometime. I wanted to wait and post about other things, but I can't wait any longer. I keep laughing about this when I hear people talk about it, and I want other people to know why I'm laughing.

Alright. So here's the topic: the 2nd Amendment "Right to Bear Arms."

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed"


Alright. Just keep this in mind. Now some back story: American law is based upon English law. Our body of law came across the ocean and then was modified and changed. In English law, there are certain rights that the Founding Fathers thought were so important, that they brought over from England and put them in the Constitution (you may be thinking, so what? But this is HUGE). This is HUGE because these rights have become known as natural right. Inalienable rights. Rights that do not derive from the people's social contract with their government, but that the people already have.

For example, the right against imminent domain. The government cannot take your stuff, or your land, without just compensation.

Alright, so to the ♥ of the matter: Washington DC v. Heller 554 U.S. 570 (2008). In this case, the issue is the right to bear arms---the 2nd Amendment. The opinion from the Supreme Court essentially said this:

The 2nd Amendment does not give the people a right to keep and bear arms. That is a natural right brought over from England. It's an inalienable right. It is a right that does not derive from the social contract between the people and their government, but this is a right that the people already have.

What the 2nd Amendment does is merely guarantee that the government will not get in the way of this right.

Interesting huh? So it makes me laugh lately when people refer to gun rights as their "Constitutional Right" or their "2nd Amendment Right". I mean, I don't think it's detrimental to refer to it this way. But knowing what this right actually is, makes it funny when people say otherwise.

Also, as a sidenote: this doesn't mean that government can't regulate guns. They can regulate guns in a few ways still- through the Commerce Clause in Article I of the Constitution, and in balancing national security against individual rights (and probably some other ways beyond my 2L law school knowledge).

Learning this was also interesting for me because I am not the handiest with a gun. I've been meaning to take some classes to learn more, and this sort of motivates me to learn more. Knowing that this is a right found to be so precious to the Found Fathers, sort of makes me want to exercise this right a little more. Now, I'm not a 'gun person'. I'm not a 'violent person'. But I don't think being afraid of guns or uneducated of guns is a good thing either.

So, did you know that about the Constitution?