We the People: Who Has the Last Word on the Constitution?

The Boston Review ^ | February/March 2004 | Larry Kramer

[hardhead]

This is a long editorial but well worth the read. The power lies with us, not the black robes.

[First_Salute]

Yes.

[Lady Eileen]

bump

[GrandEagle]

EXCELLENT!!!!!

[RAY]

The recall of federal and state judges should become common place! We need a champion who has the means and ability to lead the judical recall charge!

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[Luke]

Amen Brother!

Contrary to what tyrants have tried to tell us... we have never been a 'nation' ...we are and have always been a "confederation" of equal and sovereign states. The enemy's problem is that some of us refuse to be ruled by tyrants.

[First_Salute]

We only have the rights we defend, as long as we are able.

 

[RightWhale]

The recall of federal and state judges should become common place!

At the state level jusges are appointed for 10 years. That provides a degree of stability while allowing for the electorate to vote a judge out of office. Why this was not also done for the USSC in the beginning is a mystery, maybe because people didn't usually live so long then.

[Snickersnee]

This article is preposterous.

It was carefully explained to me in law school (Univ. of Connecticut) just after the handing down of Roe v. Wade (we all read the decision and it didn't make a bit of sense, historically or any other way) that, at the beginning of every term, five justices are given Magic Glasses to read the Constitution with. This enables them to see things in the Constitution that lowly mortals can't, and to render invisible things in the Constitution that the rest of us can plainly see. And furthermore, if you doubted the existence of the Magic Glasses, you were a right-wing troglodite and heretic, and will never wear wingtips in this town again.

I confess I doubted the Magic Glasses theory, and publicly, too. But thirty years post-graduation, I see it as the only rational explanation for what has happened to the Supreme Court, and a boatload of others, for that matter.

[hosepipe]

[ Who has the last word when it comes to the meaning of the Constitution? ]

God!... God is the last word.. For thats unique in the world in any Constitution. God is the guarantor of ALL our rights not our governemnt.. Says so in the Constitution, just like that.. Not the people, God is the last word as many almost all the founders echoed.. Thats what makes our rights permanent and not priveliges granted by our government.. like in Canada, England, France , Germany and other "democracy"(mob rule) which we are NOT.. Thats also why the 2nd amendment makes revolution LEGAL.. so the people can legally destroy any morphed democracy that would steal our God given RIGHTS..
as it rears its head,, Like NOW..

[RightWhale]

God is the last word..

No, God is the first word. If we don't bother to read the directions, that's our problem.

[RAY]

"We only have the rights we defend, as long as we are able."

Thanks! Also a good read.

[4CJ]

Contrary to what tyrants have tried to tell us... we have never been a 'nation' ...we are and have always been a "confederation" of equal and sovereign states. The enemy's problem is that some of us refuse to be ruled by tyrants.

Bump on all accounts. The people of the several states are sovereign (on this earthly plane).

[MosesKnows]

The power lies with us, not the black robes

The power has always been with the people but the people willingly exchanged that power for favors from the public treasury. The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments virtually ended any chance for the Constitution to succeed as envisioned by the founders.

[kjam22]

We need judicial recall. But we also need a number of ammendments to our constitution. This document was written 250 years ago.. and a lot of things have changed since then. For example....our framers never intended "free speech" to mean the government has to subsidize controversial art. 10 years ago an ammendment for same sex marriage would have been easily passed. But giving the other side time to argue and persuade some has made the ammendment more difficult to pass.

We should look forward to potential battle grounds and nail those issues down now by ammendment, while they are not "hot" topics.

[MrB]

Bump for later reading

[Pontiac]

We need a champion who has the means and ability to lead the judical recall charge!

The last Cat Herder in the Senate was LBJ, and I doubt we will see his like again any time soon (especially on the Right side of the isle.

[KC Burke]

The crucial question for all nations that desire to remain self governing is how to tame and limit the antidemocratic aggressions of their judiciaries and of the international tribunals and forums we are so blithely and thoughtlessly creating.

Robert H. Bork
Coercing Virtue, The Worldwide Rule of Judges
The AEI Press.

[Badray]

bump for later -- looks good.