"When the courts make unconstitutional decisions, we should not
enforce them. Federal courts have no army or navy... The court can
opine, decide, talk about, sing, whatever it wants to do. We're not
saying they can't do that. At the end of the day, we're saying the
court can't enforce its opinions."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2004/11/27/m11a_mcevoy_1127.html
Courts first to go in right-wing revolution
By George McEvoy
Palm Beach Post Columnist
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Every time the so-called Christian Right has tried to turn this
country into a theocracy, those pesky federal courts have stymied
things.
So now --- according to the liberal Americans United for Separation of
Church and State --- the right-wingers have come up with a new scheme.
All they plan to do is to strip the federal judges of their right to
hear cases involving the separation of church and state.
Reportedly, such leaders as the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Republican Rep.
John Hostettler of Indiana, flush with what they see as a successful
right-wing revolution, believe they can make the federal courts
virtually powerless.
Rep. Hostettler, addressing a special legislative briefing of the
Christian Coalition last month in Washington, reportedly talked at
length about a bill he plans to introduce. It would deny federal
courts the right to hear cases challenging the Defense of Marriage
Act, which bans same-sex marriage.
"Congress controls the federal judiciary," Rep. Hostettler was quoted
as saying. "If Congress wants to, it can refer all cases to the state
courts. Congress can say the federal courts have limited power to
enforce their decision."
Apparently, the Hoosier congressman has not heard of the balance of
power among the three arms of our government. [Nor ever heard of the
American Civil War, which decided the issue. --- DMR] He was quoted as
telling the Christian Coalition members:
"When the courts make unconstitutional decisions, we should not
enforce them. Federal courts have no army or navy... The court can
opine, decide, talk about, sing, whatever it wants to do. We're not
saying they can't do that. At the end of the day, we're saying the
court can't enforce its opinions."
Another congressman, Alabama Republican Robert Aderholdt, was quoted
as advocating court stripping as a means to protect state-sponsored
Ten Commandment displays, such as the one erected by former Alabama
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore.
And then there was Sheila Cole, executive director of the Republican
Study Committee, a group of ultra-conservative House members. She said
federal judges who refuse to listen to Congress might well be
impeached.
Others in attendance at the session called for more direct action to
render the federal courts powerless. During a question-and-answer
period, a member reportedly said that in such cases as the Ten
Commandments display, people should form a human barrier, if
neccessary, to prevent removal.
Rep. Hostettler apparently liked that idea. In such a case, he
allegedly said, federal marshals would have to be called out.
"If the president does that," he was quoted as saying, "who will have
a say in the next presidential election?"
The Rev. Falwell spoke of what he called an evangelical awakening
sweeping this nation, and boasted that the Religious Right now
controls the Republican Party, according to Americans United.
Many of the legal scholars consulted by Americans United said the
court-stripping scheme was of dubious legality. Michael Gerhardt, a
professor at William & Mary Law School, testified before Congress
twice recently, arguing that the plan violates the U.S. Constitution.
Constitutional or not, the scary part of all this is realizing how
dizzy success has made these people. A week or two after the
presidential election, I happened to tune in to the Rev. Pat
Robertson's program. He was chortling and practically jumping up and
down with elation.
He kept saying what a great opportunity the Christian Right now had to
change the nation.
It sounds as if they intend to begin by ripping apart the Bill of
Rights.
http://www.theocracywatch.org/
---
http://lastliberal.org
"It has been a tragedy for all the families that have lost
members. As many as 100,000 people have died, half of them
women and children. If that is not a war crime, what is?"
--- Stephen Hawking, astrophysicist
"If there is such a thing as homosexual love, certainly it would be
equal to heterosexual love. But I am not yet convinced that people
of the same sex can genuinely love each other in a romantic way.
Can they love each other? Sure, but it may not be the same type
of love." - Ken Young (Jewish parents don't love their children like
us Nazi German parents do.)
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