The Lichfield Group

This article appeared in the May 23, 2006 issue of the Washington Times.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, prodded by President Bush, approved the wrong Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) last week. The right amendment would have entrusted exclusively to Congress and state legislatures the decision whether to recognize same-sex “marriage.” In contrast, the wrong FMA precludes legislative bodies from recognizing same-sex unions irrespective of majority sentiments. It amends the U.S. Constitution to impose a nonrecognition requirement on every state and the national government even if majorities in Congress and state legislatures favor recognition.

This article appeared in the May 16, 2006 issue of the Washington Times.

President Bush’s nominee as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, is vulnerable for frustrating congressional oversight, subordinating the Constitution to vaulting professional ambitions, and lack of candor. These vulnerabilities should be explored at Thursday’s confirmation hearing.

This article appeared in the December 10, 2005 issue of the Washington Times.

Undivided loyalty strengthens. Dual citizenship weakens. The United States Supreme Court circumscribed the nation’s ability to defend itself against dual citizenship featuring loyalties to foreign masters in Afroyim v. Rusk (1967) by holding that U.S. citizenship could be lost only by “voluntary renunciation.” Representative Sam Graves (R. Missouri) plans to propose an amendment to an immigration bill next Thursday that would blunt the folly of Afroyim by criminally punishing acts that signal disloyalty to the United States, for example, serving in a foreign army or as an official in a foreign state. It should command universal support.

This article appeared in the December 28, 2005 issue of the Washington Times.

2004 marked no milestone in the trajectory of America’s history.

Nothing transpired comparable to the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, or Pearl Harbor. The year confirmed that the more things change, the more they stay the same. To borrow from A Tale of Two Cities, 2004 was neither the best of times, nor the worst of times. Folly and wisdom, squalidness and courage, pettiness and statesmanship marched hand in glove on and off the stage.