Legal Question in Constitutional Law in New York

Re: Does the U.S. Constitution's Preamble have any power?

Although you seem to have a typo -- "clot" for "clout," I presume -- the answer to your question depends on the context of what you mean by, say, "power" or "clout." In other words, politically speaking, it has much of both, for the "We the People" intro and the desire to "form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense," etc. goes a long way in the political arena.

Legally speaking, however, there are no "rights" per se attached to the preamble, and the first three Articles deal with the Legislative Branch, Executive Branch and Judicial Branch, respectively -- all of which provide the substance for the formation of our government. (The remaining four Articles deal with (i) the relation of states to each other & the federal government; the method of amending the Constitution; the provision for national debts; and the method for ratifying the Contitution, respectively.)

Thus, without conducting exhaustive research on the subject, I would have to answer from a strictly legal perspective, the preamble has no "power, rights or clo[u]t" -- as I have defined it for legal purposes.

-- Kenneth J. Ashman; Ashman Law Offices, LLC; [email protected]; www.lawyers.com/alo