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Supreme Court justice agrees: First Amendment limits only Congress
Renew America ^ | May 10, 2014 | By Bryan Fischer

Posted on 05/10/2014 11:00:08 AM PDT by Jim Robinson

I have argued since I first began writing and speaking on this issue that the First Amendment restrains only the actions of Congress. The first word in the First Amendment, after all, is the word "Congress." "Congress shall make no law..."

The Founders quite intentionally were not imposing restraints on what a state could do in offering prayers before legislative assemblies, or what a city could do in erecting Ten Commandments monuments, or what a school could do in offering prayer and Bible reading over the intercom or at graduation. Congress and Congress alone is bound down by the chains of the First Amendment.

This has enormous implications for public policy, because it means that the only entity in America that can violate the First Amendment is Congress. A state can't, a city can't, and a school official or student most certainly can't. State constitutions may have something to say about what those entities can do, but the federal government, including the judiciary, has precisely zero constitutional or moral authority to intervene in such matters.

That, my friends, is freedom. Freedom for states, cities and schools to decide matters of religious expression for themselves without black-robed tyrants on the other side of the country deciding such things for them.

Thus the recent Supreme Court ruling, allowing cities and, in fact, all government bodies to offer invocations in Jesus' name before meetings is a good ruling. But the matter never even should have been before the Court in the first place. The First Amendment prohibits any kind of federal interference in religious expression whatsoever.

And while in many ways I have been a lone voice crying in the wilderness on this topic, I now find there are two of us crying out in the desert of out-of-control jurisprudence. Clarence Thomas...

(Excerpt) Read more at renewamerica.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: congressshallmake; establishmentclause; federalism; firstamendment; greecevgalloway; religiousfreedom; restrictscongress; righttopray; righttoprayer; righttopublicprayer; scotus; tenthamendment; thomas
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To: Two Thirds Vote Aye
Read my post again: 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Notes for this amendment: Proposed 6/13/1866 Ratified 7/9/1868
81 posted on 06/30/2014 5:21:44 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: DJ MacWoW

Thank you and I am corrected. It would have helped had I read the underlined last sentence from the Amendment before posting.


82 posted on 07/01/2014 1:06:22 AM PDT by Two Thirds Vote Aye (I was saying 'I hope he fails' before Rush was.)
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To: Two Thirds Vote Aye

If I had a nickel for all the times that I’ve done the same thing.............;-)


83 posted on 07/01/2014 10:05:43 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: Jim Robinson

so the feds cannot violate the bill of rights, but the states can.

Doesn’t make sense.

Why all the restrictions on things like local police activities, cruel and unusual, need for warrants etc?


84 posted on 07/01/2014 10:15:45 AM PDT by morphing libertarian ( On to impeachment and removal (IRS, Taliban, Fast and furious, VA, Benghazi)!!!)
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To: DJ MacWoW
If I had a nickel for all the times that I’ve done the same thing.............;-)

...and as that applies to me as well, we would both be independently wealthy.

85 posted on 07/01/2014 5:15:32 PM PDT by Two Thirds Vote Aye (I was saying 'I hope he fails' before Rush was.)
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To: Two Thirds Vote Aye

Wouldn’t that be nice? :-)


86 posted on 07/01/2014 5:27:49 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: morphing libertarian
Impeachment no problem in the House. Do you ever in your wildest dreams EVEN ENTERTAIN THE NOTION that THIS Senate could ever conjure up 67 votes to remove this arrogant infestational pest? I contend, and maybe a little over exaggeration, that he could be beheading babies on the front lawn of the White House, screaming, "Alluah Akbar, Death to the Infidel", ALL IN FRONT OF THE WORLDWIDE CAMERAS OF THE MSM, and this HORRIBLY Hellish CRAT OBAMA-WORSHIPPING Senate, WOULD NEVER GET 67 VOTES???? Even some RINOS would probably vote 'NOT GUILTY", like they did with clinton.

The bastard is there to stay for 2 years or more if he so chooses.

87 posted on 07/01/2014 5:29:01 PM PDT by Two Thirds Vote Aye (I was saying 'I hope he fails' before Rush was.)
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To: DJ MacWoW

Oh, yes it would my FRiend.


88 posted on 07/01/2014 5:30:14 PM PDT by Two Thirds Vote Aye (I was saying 'I hope he fails' before Rush was.)
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To: RIghtwardHo
"I don’t like this ruling at all."

You don't like what ruling?

89 posted on 07/01/2014 5:39:20 PM PDT by mlo
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To: Two Thirds Vote Aye

The house must meet its responsibility. Let the senate do what they’ll do.


90 posted on 07/01/2014 5:47:05 PM PDT by morphing libertarian ( On to impeachment and removal (IRS, Taliban, Fast and furious, VA, Benghazi)!!!)
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To: morphing libertarian

Sorry about the caps. I was being emotional and feeling frustrated about the whole mess America is in at the time. Yes, I would rather Boehnor bring Articles of Impeachment against the arrogant jackass instead of the lawsuit he is threatening. Of course we would be totally in favor of impeachment. And, it is the responsibility of the House to do it. As opposed to clinton’s impeachment, the house has a strong leg to stand on for an Article regarding Abuse of Power. Then it would fall far short in the sinate and the Republicans would be the big hate mongers and racists as usual. That would be the result. Then he would really accelerate his dictatorial actions, knowing he can never be removed from office for at least the remainder of his term.


91 posted on 07/02/2014 1:37:11 AM PDT by Two Thirds Vote Aye (I was saying 'I hope he fails' before Rush was.)
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To: Two Thirds Vote Aye

No problem

freepgards


92 posted on 07/02/2014 6:04:46 AM PDT by morphing libertarian ( On to impeachment and removal (IRS, Taliban, Fast and furious, VA, Benghazi)!!!)
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To: Darksheare
Heck, look at Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252 (1886)

It is undoubtedly true that all citizens capable of bearing arms constitute the reserved military force or reserve militia of the United States as well as of the states, and, in view of this prerogative of the general government, as well as of its general powers, the states cannot, even laying the constitutional provision in question [the 2nd amendment] out of view, prohibit the people from keeping and bearing arms, so as to deprive the United States of their rightful resource for maintaining the public security, and disable the people from performing their duty to the general government. But, as already stated, we think it clear that the sections under consideration [state laws regulating the conduct of public parades] do not have this effect.
Federal courts deliberately ignored this part of the Presser case, even stating that the case stands for the exact OPPOSITE proposition. Such is the mendacity of the federal courts vs. the right to keep and bear arms. SCOTUS knew this was going on, too, and chose to allow it to continue for decades. To this day, the "law" (as asserted by the mendacious courts) is that Presser stood for the proposition that states could infringe the right to keep and bear arms.
93 posted on 07/02/2014 6:20:19 AM PDT by Cboldt
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