Constitution

Piñera Signs Decree Calling Constitutional Referendum

December 29, 2019 Telesur English. Resist! Chile, Constitution, Democracy

Chile's President Sebastian Piñera Friday signed the decree that summons the constitutional plebiscite on April 26, 2020, which will allow Chileans to decide whether or not they want a new constitution. "We are going to live a transcendent period in these 121 days that we have until the plebiscite," Piñera said at an event carried out at the Palace of La Moneda in Santiago. This process seeks to change the constitution generated under the tutelage of the dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), which is one of the main demands that citizens have raised in the protests that have developed continuously since October. On April 26, 2020, besides deciding whether or not to support a constitutional change, Chileans will choose between two mechanisms for drafting the new constitution.

Prolonged Protests In Panama Over Proposed Constitutional Reforms

October 31, 2019 Popular Resistance. Resist! Constitution, Corruption, Education, Panama

Protests in Panama started on October 22 when 1,000 students, teachers and administrators from the University of Panama marched to the National Assembly to protest proposed changes to the Constitution that would undermine higher education. When the marchers arrived at the National Assembly, they were prevented from entering and some climbed over the fence to get in. Since then, protests have continued every day and more groups have joined them. Telesur reports that trade unions, movements, and social organizations have also joined. Telesur explains why the demonstrations are growing: "...after the first debates of the reform on October 15, a group of assembly members included amendments that would give them the power to alter the general state budget, appoint a superior prosecutor to investigate attorneys, censor ministers and adjust the salaries

National Emergencies: Constitutional And Statutory Restrictions On Presidential Powers

February 17, 2019 Cindy Cohn and Shahid Buttar, Electronic Frontier Foundation. Educate! Constitution, National Emergency, Surveillance, Trump

When a president threatens to exercise the power to declare a national emergency, our system of checks and balances faces a crucial test. With President Trump threatening such a declaration in order to build his proposed physical border wall, that test could be an important one that could quickly implicate your right to privacy and a transparent government. Like the Constitution, statutory powers do not justify a presidential declaration of emergency powers to build a proposed border wall. EFF has long tangled with governmental actions rooted in presidential power.

Democracy In Cuba: A Referendum On A New Constitution

January 16, 2019 Staff, En.granma.cu Educate! Constitution, Cuba, Democracy

On February 24, the Cuban people will vote in a popular referendum on the new Constitution. We offer some details of the process. ON February 24, the Cuban people, exercising their sovereignty, will decide on one of the most important issues for the country: the approval in a popular referendum of the new Constitution. This is a fully democratic exercise, following from the approval by the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) of the final text, drafted after the popular consultation process in which the entire population was able to participate. This led to the modification of 60% of the draft text through the opinions expressed in more than 133,000 meetings across the country.

The Constitution And Homelessness

October 3, 2018 Steve Martinot, Counterpunch.org Educate! Constitution, Homelessness

When the police violate the US Constitution, are they criminal? In what court can their conduct be judged illegal? For recourse against crimes against the people for violation of the Constitution, to whom can we turn? We finally found out that it was illegal all along for the Berkeley PD to raid and disperse homeless encampments. It is a violation of the Constitution. So said the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 4, 2018. But it has been going on for years. All those former raids were illegal, and those former arrests and confiscations of property were also illegal. Now, the Court has made it official. Can this be turned into anything but a civil suit. Can past victimization be turned into anything but money? We suspect that Berkeley city government doesn’t care. On Sept. 5, 2018, the very next day after the Ninth Circuit Court decision, the Berkeley PD raided another homeless encampment.

Kochs Bankroll Move To Rewrite The Constitution

March 27, 2017 Staff, www.exposedbycmd.org Educate! Banks, Constitution, Koch Brothers

By Staff of Exposed for CMD - A constitutional convention, something thought impossible not long ago, is looking increasingly likely. Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, if 34 state legislatures “issue a call” for a constitutional convention, Congress must convene one. By some counts, the right-wing only needs six more states. Once called, delegates can propose and vote on changes and new amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which, if approved, are currently required to be ratified by 38 states. There are two major legislative pushes for a convention at the state level. One would attempt to engineer a convention for a balanced budget amendment only...

A Constitution Corrupted

March 17, 2017 Gavin O'Toole, www.nacla.org Educate! Constitution, History, Mexico

By Gavin O'Toole for NACLA - It is easy to understand scholarly and progressive interest in this year’s centennial of the Russian revolution, but harder to explain why there is little apparent enthusiasm for an anniversary that is arguably more important – that of Mexico’s 1917 constitution, signed on February 5, 1917. In fact, Mexico’s constitution provided the model for the first Soviet constitution. Its failure to inspire global interest may reside in an uncomfortable question facing the country: whether it should be celebrating or mourning. The Constitution has been revered by constitutional scholars for being the first to enshrine social rights.

Constitutional Climate Lawsuit Against U.S. To Proceed

November 14, 2016 Julia Olson and Philip Gregory, www.static1.squarespace.com Resist! Climate Change, Constitution, Lawsuit

By Julia Olson and Philip Gregory for Our Children's Trust and Earth Guardian - Eugene, OR – Today, the federal court in Eugene, Oregon decided in favor of 21 youth plaintiffs in their “groundbreaking” constitutional climate lawsuit against President Obama, numerous federal agencies, and the fossil fuel industry. U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken completely rejected all arguments to dismiss raised by the federal government and fossil fuel industry, determining that the young plaintiffs’ constitutional and public trust claims could proceed.

Norwegian Youth Taking Gov To Court Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Arctic Drilling

October 21, 2016 Lauren McCauley, www.medium.com Strategize! Arctic drilling, Constitution, Courts, Norway

By Lauren McCauley for Common Dreams - Taking a page from young people in the United States and elsewhere who are standing up for their right to healthy environment, Norwegian youth on Monday filed suitagainst their country's government for expanding Arctic oil drilling despite increasingly dire warnings about the impact such activity is having on the planet's climate. The plaintiffs, which include Greenpeace Norway and the nation's largest youth-led organization, Nature and Youth,

This Is What Stop And Frisk Is, And Why It’s Unconstitutional

September 30, 2016 Natasha Noman, www.mic.com Educate! Constitution, Stop and Frisk

By Natasha Noman for Mic - The controversial stop-and-frisk policy instituted by the New York Police Department in 1999 allowed law enforcement to stop any civilian on the street and search their person and belongings. The practice is "allegedly based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity," the Center for Constitutional Rights explains. There are just a few problems with that premise: The practice has proven to be racially motivated, ineffective and unconstitutional.

Declaration on ‘Future Syrian Constitution’

May 8, 2016 Staff, www.peaceinsyria.org Create! Constitution, Peace, Syria, Wars and Militarism

From Peace in Syria. A second conference on the future constitution of Syria was held in Vienna, Austria from April 27 to 29, 2016. Since approx. three years the promoters of the international peace initiative www.peaceinsyria.org/ have mobilized a great number of peace activists and outstanding personalities of political and cultural life in Europe, Asia and Latin America – all of them deeply convinced that a military solution of the Syrian conflict is not possible and the bloodshed has to be stopped. Gathering around the need for a POLITICAL DIALOG the promoters of this initiative went on different occasions to Damascus, Beirut, Istanbul, Qamishli and Aleppo in order to contact the main political actors from each side

US Not In Top Ten Most Happiest, Is It Our Government?

March 19, 2016 Kelly Gerling, www.examiner.com Create! Constitution, Democracy, Proportional Representation

By Kelly Gerling for the Washington Mental Health Examiner. For Americans to take the lead in the world in happiness, it will take a real political revolution. Americans can thank Bernie Sanders for making that phrase respectable. There is a relationship between having a modern constitutional design with proportional representation and happiness, that to achieve such a modern governmental design we need an advanced political consciousness, and that doing both of these is necessary to create a much wider policy debate, a greater variety of candidates and parties, and more political innovations. Let's not be victims of our 229-year-old political system. Instead, let's just grow up and become citizen-leaders, and change it to our liking.

Japan: US Pressures Revision Of Constitution

September 12, 2015 Yoshio Shimoji, www.popularresistance.org Educate! Constitution, Democracy, Japan, Wars and Militarism

By Yoshio Shimoji of Voice of Okinawa. Tokyo, Japan - The Abe administration is so intent on passing security-related bills now under deliberation at the House of Councilors. Why? One reason is that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised the Joint Meeting of U.S. Congress in a speech given on April 29 that the bills would be made into law by the end of the summer. Probably, Washington might have thought at the time that the time was ripe for them to urge Tokyo to revise the constitution -- a long-pending U.S. policy toward Japan. Junichiro Koizumi, the most pro-American prime minister in recent memory, was in power with Shinzo Abe serving as Secretary-General of the LDP. Abe replaced Koizumi as the next prime minister in September 2006.

ALEC Watchdog: Jane Carter Trying To Rewrite The Constitution

August 12, 2015 Bill Raden, www.capitalandmain.com Educate! ALEC, Constitution, Corruption, Law, Lobby

By Bill Raden in Capital and Main - As lobbyists and state legislators gathered at San Diego’s Grand Hyatt resort last week for the three-day annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the delegates seemed to barely glance at the several dozen exhibitor tables that made up a sort of carnival sideshow of right-wing groups outside the hotel’s second-floor warren of meeting rooms. Convention attendees had more pressing concerns. Namely, turning this year’s corporate wish list into the infamous boilerplate bills known as “model laws” that would aspire to undermine things like health and environmental standards, worker rights, campaign-spending limits and implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) across the 50 states. Many of the exhibitor booths were occupied by familiar ALEC friends, such as the collection of extreme-right think tanks known as the State Policy Network, which churns out studies designed to grease the model laws’ passage out of statehouse committees.

Court Ruling May Allow Litigation Over Mass Round-Ups After 9-11

June 20, 2015 Center For Constitutional Rights, www.ccrjustice.org Resist! Constitution, FBI, Law, Rights

By Center For Constitutional Rights - Today, in a case brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) thirteen years ago, in April 2002, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated claims against former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former FBI director Robert Mueller, and former INS Commissioner James Ziglar for their roles in the post-9/11 immigration detentions, abuse, and religious profiling of Muslim, Arab, and South Asian men. It is exceedingly rare for a court to allow claims against such high-level officials to proceed. “We are thrilled with the court’s ruling.The court took this opportunity to remind the nation that the rule of law and the rights of human beings, whether citizens or not, must not be sacrificed in the face of national security hysteria,” said Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Staff Attorney Rachel Meeropol.

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