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Here are buttons to the five articles in this series. Synopses of the articles are below.
(Go to Bottom of Page for upstream button options)
Eliminating the Conflict Between Liberty and Crime Control
If we could articulate the full ideal of liberty that our Constitution means to protect we could protect it directly, with restrictions on what is criminalizable, rather than indirectly, with restrictions on law enforcement. This would allow us to eliminate many restrictions on law enforcement and at the same time get much better protection of liberty. This article articulates the full ideal of liberty by interpretting the 9th Amendment.
Liberty and Drugs
If the full constitutional ideal of liberty were protected directly, the main category of laws that would be struck down for criminalizing what is not properly criminalizable are our drug laws. "Liberty and Drugs" examines why this would not be a bad thing.
Junk the Fourth Amendment
Once liberty is protected directly, we can start relaxing indirect protections of liberty, such as the Fourth Amendment's restrictions on search.
Junk the Fifth Amendment
The right not to incriminate oneself was designed to inhibit prosecution of those who are guilty as charged. The goal was to keep religious dissenters from being prosecuted for blasphemy by Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission. If we would protect liberty directly (make it unconstitutional to criminalize blasphemy and other activities that should be protected the full ideal of liberty) we could get rid of this procedural protection for the guilty, which protects murderers as much as blasphemers.
The Right to Privacy
Addresses some subtleties of how to articulate the full ideal of liberty. Resolves the necessary interpretation of J.S. Mill's principle of liberty.
