As part of an ongoing look at ALEC and its pet legislators, I’m looking at why certain ALEC bills (such as the Minnesota anti-voter “voter ID” bill which, having been shot down by both an ACLU lawsuit and a Mark Dayton veto, is back for its third go-round as a ballot measure) keep getting revived even after being shot down for unconstitutionality and other reasons.

The Ninth Circuit Court just held, 2-1, that California’s imfamous anti-gay Prop 8 was unconstitutional. “Proposition 8 served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California,” the court said.

The deal between President Obama and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calls for the creation of a “Super Congress” to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.

You won’t find a Super Congress mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. It will be an elite body of 12 members of Congress who write legislation behind closed doors and then announce it to the public. Whatever they decide will then be fast-tracked through both chambers, where it can’t be amended by simple, regular lawmakers.

Perhaps the best way to look at the possibility of President Obama using the 14th amendment to declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional, is not to wonder if Obama has the will to use it, but question whether he has the resolve it would take not use it.

MSNBC reports that Judge Roger Vinson of US District Court in Pensacola Florida has just ruled that the health care reform law enacted last year is unconstitutional

When America’s founders crafted the Constitution, they knew more was needed to ensure the survival of democracy. So they created the Bill of Rights. They made sure that at the top of the list, the First Amendment included such rights as the freedom of assembly. That is, the freedom of all of us to gather together in groups of our choosing. Like, say, unions.