The most important things to takeaway from the Founding Documents of the United States is the following:
- The Declaration of Independence includes Constitutional Rights because it is considered the foreword or preamble to the US Constitution. It lists the following rights that are often used at the Supreme Court but never found by Constitutional Law students in the “actual constitution”.
- Equality of all Citizens.
- Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
- Right to abolish a Government not fulfilling its obligations to Citizens.
- Constitutional Rights are Citizen Rights and not the rights of Visa Holders, Permanent Residents, Diplomats, Illegal Aliens, Asylees, or Refugees.
- Constitutional Rights override the US Code and all State Penal Codes.
- In the case of drivers licenses, car registration and gun permits; these requirements can be enforced for people who are not US Citizens but not for US Citizens. Display of a Passport or Passport Card to a law enforcement officer should be enough to avoid going to court and having to appeal the matter before the US Supreme Court. Having the US Supreme Court refusing to hear these matters violates the due process of US Citizens.
- The Constitution can not have pre-existing text modified or deleted. This is because of Article 6, Paragraph 2 which states “This Constitution, … shall be the supreme Law of the Land; … any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding“.
- The word withstanding has a definition of will not prevail or from Old French which many of the founding fathers spoke, will not be an obstacle to.
- Because an amendment has the potential to override or “delete” the existing terms of the Constitution, an amendment can only add additional rights or directives for governance, it can not modify or delete existing terms.
- With regards to the 18th amendment, the 18th amendment is invalid as it violates the pursuit of happiness and is a piece of legislative text and does not belong in a constitutional document. The 21st amendment acknowledged and documented its invalidity.
- The hierarchy of laws for a US Citizen on US Soil or US Territory is US Constitution, US Code, International Treaties agreed to by the US.
- International Treaties can not override US Citizen Rights inside the US or a US Territory. State Laws also can not override the US Constitution or US Code.
- The US Constitution is written in 7 articles.
- Article 1 – Congressional Powers
- Article 2 – Executive Powers
- Article 3 – Judiciary Powers
- Article 4 – States
- Article 5 – Amendments
- Article 6 – Laws, Debts and Agreements
- Section 7 – Ratification and signatures
- The Bill of Rights, which is the first 10 amendments, can be an addendum to the US Constitution.
- Each of the remaining 17 articles should fit into the one of the existing articles or into the addendum “Bill of Rights”.