Posted on 07/26/2014 7:34:52 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
We rely on the Supreme Court to defend the Constitution from the endless assaults on it that chip away our liberty. Too bad Supreme Court Justices don’t have a higher opinion of the document. Ruth Bader Ginsberg has denounced it, recommending instead the socialist constitution of South Africa. The odious Stephen Breyer appears to attack it at every opportunity (e.g., here, here, and here). Now we hear this from swing vote Anthony Kennedy:
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, speaking at the annual conference of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Monterey, waxed eloquent on the deficiencies of the Constitution and implied that those who believe in the original intent of the Constitution by swearing fealty to the original, literal meaning are misguided.
Most of Kennedy’s nearly hour-long speech focused on the Magna Carta, originally signed in 1215 and due for its 800th anniversary next year. But he couldn’t resist taking a swipe at the Constitution, noting, “The Constitution of the United States is a flawed document,” its “thinly veiled language… basically reaffirmed the legality of slavery.” Kennedy was referencing the section of the Constitution in which each slave was defined as three-fifths of a person in the estimation of how many congressional delegates each state was allotted. He added that the soldiers who died in the Civil War were “one of the things it cost for having a Constitution that was flawed.”
At the time the Constitution was written, the economy of the southern states was totally reliant on slave labor. A constitution forbidding slavery would never have held the nation together, because no southern state would have agreed to it.
As liberals tend to forget, slavery was a nearly ubiquitous feature of civilization throughout the world until it was largely ended by Anglo-Saxons in the 19th century, the British navy playing a major role.
Presenting a constitution forbidding slavery in 18th century America would have been a waste of everyone’s time.
That doesn’t mean the Constitution is flawed. It means that it sometimes needs to be amended to keep pace with changing times — as it has been. This is a relatively superficial process, very different from proclaiming the whole thing to be flawed and rejecting it in favor of a “living constitution” that says whatever the prevailing majority wants it to say at any given moment.
Unsurprisingly, the main person the Supremes need to defend the Constitution against also regards it as “deeply flawed.”
Don’t count on Kennedy to stop him.
Since his focus seems to be on slavery, wouldn't an intelligent man say that it WAS a flawed document, but we eventually fixed it?
Also, the tired old three-fifths things was a moral attempt to minimize political power from slave-holding states. It was a good thing. It was an attempt to move in a direction that might "fix" the "flawed document".
Last point: If you swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, you need to STFU about your opinions about flawed it is, or was, or whatever. It is what it is -- right, wrong, or indifferent, you uphold it as it is without grousing about how "flawed" it is.
Sheesh!
A “living constitution” for a dying nation.
As long as the 14th, 16th and 17th Amendments remain in the Constitution, it is a flawed document.
Whatever our faults as a nation....America does not deserve this plague of scumbags. Disgusting.
Obama also said it was flawed in that it dealt in ‘negative liberties.’
Fortunately, via Executive Order it can be subverted and destroyed.
This nation is no longer The United States of America, United has long been diminished. As my tagline says Term limits will only say this country.
“At the time the Constitution was written, the economy of the southern states was totally reliant on slave labor.”
Exactly. How would Kennedy propose that the people in the South get their work done and make money without that slave labor?
I would submit to you that their presence is evidence that America does deserve them; that since the majority of Americans don’t appear to care about their lawless beliefs and behaviors, we are getting just what the majority desires.
Face it, patriots and Constitutionalists are the minority.
Fortunately, via Executive Order it can be subverted and destroyed.
One might also say the Constitution is flawed in the sense that it does not require the opposition party to have a spine or any intestinal fortitude.
the phone lines werent in yet....so no Illegal Hondurans and Guatemalans were aware of the labor shortage...
This has the ‘negative liberty’ talk from Zero:
Same applies to POTUS and Congress.
But then again, oaths don't mean much anymore.....
Seems to me that Anthony Kennedy is a flawed justice.
Couldn’t possibly be that Tony is “flawed.”
The 26th was probably not the best idea either, without limiting it to military service.
Good post!
Also, the tired old three-fifths things was a moral attempt to minimize political power from slave-holding states. It was a good thing. It was an attempt to move in a direction that might "fix" the "flawed document".
A wiser assessment than Kennedy's. Without the "thinly veiled language" and the "three-fifths rule", there would've been no Constitution, no United States of America. Would Kennedy have preferred that outcome?
Instead, he should be glad he wasn't there -- but Roger Sherman and Charles Pinckney were!
“Exactly. How would Kennedy propose that the people in the South get their work done and make money without that slave labor?”
I do not see a /Sarcasm tag, so it appears that you choose an imaginary Utopia over a system that provided the best hope of mankind for over 200 years.
Tell me that I am wrong, and that you are not delusional.
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And arrogant elitist like kennedy, ginsberg and breyer think the murder of over 55 million innocent babies should have been in the constitution, so they act like the dictators that obama thinks he is and write mans evil laws into it.
One day, not to far off, these people and others like them with cold , cruel hearts will stand before God and answer to Him.
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