Senator Talent and Congressman Akin hate our Constitution
Missouri Republican Senator Jim Talent and Republican Congressman Todd Akin are sponsoring legislation to limit the power of federal courts to rule on the Pledge of Allegiance. Why on earth would they do something so incredibly stupid? Well, according to Akin, he KNOWS it's unconstitutional! Akin wrote that the Supreme Court's recent dodging of the issue on standing grounds doesn't change (I swear I'm not making up this priceless quotation!) "what remains obvious: that under a fair reading of the court's Establishment Clause precedents, 'under God' is unconstitutional."
Apparently, Talent cares even less about history than he does about the Constitution - he wants to send a message to judges that "We've managed this without you for 200 years and we can manage it now," he said. "So stay out of it." Hasn't anybody told that ignoranus that "under God" was added during the McCarthy era?
posted by Dan at 7/04/2004 05:04:00 PM
3 Comments:
The Constitution is the self-proclaimed highest law in the land and a law that says the court can't rule on the constitutionality of a law, is in itself unconstitutional, and would be voided by the very court who's power it seeks to limit. Checks and Balances are a great thing, no?
Hi,
not a proper comment to your post, I'm afraid.
I accidentally fell on your blog via Timetobelieve.net and thought I'd have a look around while I was here already. I'll most probably be back - you've got an interesting (and nice-looking) blog going :)
Best regards
Flip (heresomewhere.com)
Actually, given that the Court's First Amendment jurisprudence has strayed so far from the meaning of the words of the First Amendment it might not be a bad idea to limit the jurisdiction of the courts, as is explicitly permitted by the Constitution itself.
An establishment of religion is a declaration that a particular faith is the official religion of the nation, with special privileges and tax supports to go with it. Mentioning God in the Pledge does not do that.
Unfortunately, the courts have declred so much as a tip of the hat to religious values by government to constitute an establishment of religion -- despite the fact that it clearlydoes not fall within the boundaries of that which the founders intended.
Using the power to limit jurisdiction, as authorized by the founders, therefore makes perfect sense. It is a protection of, not a contempt for, the Constitution
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