THE SUPREME COURT
MichaelConnelly.Jigsy.com
While it is true that we are facing a serious
Constitutional crisis in the Supreme Court with the
death of the brilliant conservative justice Antonin
Scalia, few people realize that this is just the
inevitable result of a constitutional crisis
involving the court that has been building up for
years.
It
has largely been ignored because unfortunately many
Americans don’t understand that the Supreme Court
was designed by the founding fathers to be a
separate, but equal branch with the Congress and the
Executive Branch headed by the President. Article 3,
Section 2 of the Constitution establishes the
limited jurisdiction of the court. It states in part
that: “The judicial Power shall extend to all cases,
in Law and Equity, arising under the Constitution,
the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or
which shall be made, under their Authority…” This
also includes “Controversies between two or more
states” or between citizens of different states.
When
you read Article 3 of the Constitution you will find
that there is nothing that authorizes the Supreme
Court or any other federal court to make new laws,
amend existing laws, and certainly not to amend the
Constitution on their own. Yet, that is what
activist federal judges at all levels, including the
Supreme Court have decided they are entitled to do.
This change was orchestrated over the years by
Democrats in the White House and the U.S. Senate,
and unfortunately aided and abetted by weak
Republican Presidents and Senators who were willing
to compromise with the Democrats.
Obama, his fellow Democrats in the House and Senate,
as well as the liberal news media are demanding that
the Senate vote on any one nominated by the
President. They claim it is required by the
Constitution when in fact that there is no such
requirement. The Constitution requires that any
nominee be approved by the Senate before taking a
seat on the court. It does not require that the
Senate schedule a vote if it refuses to do so, which
itself constitutes a rejection of the nominee.
Ironically, when you listen to the arguments made by
the left, they are essentially demanding that the
Republicans in the Senate vote to affirm whoever
Obama nominates, regardless of whether or not they
will defend the U.S, Constitution and the liberties
protected by it. This is another example of the
hypocrisy of the left. The fact is that the last
three Supreme Court nominees rejected in up or down
votes in the Senate were nominees of Republican
presidents and the nominations were defeated by
Democrat controlled Senates.
When
Obama was in the Senate while George W. Bush was
president he voted against both of Bush’s nominees
to the Supreme Court, and joined with other
Democrats to keep most of the other Bush nominees to
serve on other federal courts from even being voted
on. He did this simply because he opposed anyone on
the court who did not agree with his efforts to
destroy the Constitution.
Yet, both of
the Obama nominees to the court received votes from
republican senators and have consistently followed
the Obama/progressive agenda.
That
is why Republican Senators have to stand firm and
not allow Obama to appoint another justice who will
ignore the Constitution, amend it, or legislate from
the bench. Too often in the past Republican
Presidents have nominated so-called moderates to the
Supreme Court like Anthony Kennedy, and Republican
Senators have voted to affirm leftist judges like
Kagan and Sotomayor.
There should, in fact, be a litmus test for Supreme
Court appointees. The test should be whether they
will abide by their oath of office to “support
and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I
will bear true faith and allegiance to the same…” or
whether they will consider themselves above the law
and superior to the Constitution.
The same test should be applied to candidates for
congress and particularly to candidates for
President. If the progressives gain control of the
Supreme Court we will be effectively under the
dictatorship that Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Bernie
Sanders want to impose upon us. We have to put the
brakes on this runaway train we are on that is
carrying us to the destruction of our Constitutional
republic, our economy, and our Constitutional
rights.
It is time that as Americans we alert the
politicians of both parties that if they continue to
fail us and allow our Constitution to be taken down,
we will have no choice but to exercise the ultimate
power granted to us by the Declaration of
Independence, that allows us to alter or abolish a
government that subjects us to tyranny. The specific
language is “But
when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a
design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it
is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such
government, and to provide new guards for their
future security.”
The
concept is certainly not new in this country, it is
called revolution, and it may soon be our last
resort.
mrobertc@hotmail.com
Michael Connelly blog
www.usjf.net
Constitutional Law Alliance