Matt
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Matthew J. Franck
Professor and Chairman
Department of Political Science
Radford University
P.O. Box 6945
Radford, VA 24142-6945
phone 540-831-5854
fax 540-831-6075
e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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At 02:25 PM 8/8/2003 -0500, you wrote:
John Eastman write;
The Constitution, on the
other hand, was adopted by a national people, as a charter for how they
were going to govern themselves. The ratifications were made by the
people in their states (where else would they have been made, as one
founder noted), but the very act of ratification made them part of a
national people, engaged in constitution-making rather than
treaty-making.
Two questions: Does John view Marshall as a "founder," since I assume it
is he whom John is citing? Does this mean that John rejects the views of
Thomas et al. in dissent in the term limits case as to the basis of the
Constitution in state compact? And a third, bonus, question: If he does
indeed accept the Marshallian understanding of constitutional ontology,
then does this have implications for the legitimacy of the "state
sovereignty" decisions, such as Alden etc., which also seem to rest on the
Kentucky-Virginia resolution view of ratification? (A double bonus
question is whether Kennedy simply changes his mind between his Thornton
conurrence and his discovery of state dignitary interests in Alden or,
rather, is simply incoherent in terms of constitutional metaphysics.)
sandy
