Posted on 03/29/2005 11:00:33 AM PST by EternalVigilance
Posted: March 29, 2005 11:44 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
The Florida state constitution declares unequivocally that in the state of Florida "the supreme executive power shall be vested in a governor … ." The word supreme means highest in authority. There can be no executive authority in the state of Florida higher than the governor. No state law can create an executive authority higher than highest in the Florida constitution. Therefore no court order based upon such a law can constitutionally create such an authority.
If the governor tells the local police in Pinellas County to step aside, they must do so, or else be arrested and tried for an assault on the government of the state, which is to say insurrection.
(If Gov. Jeb Bush fears that for some reason they would question the authority of his representatives, then he should take the necessary law enforcement officials to Tampa in person, thus making the situation crystal clear.)
Since Florida's highest law grants him supreme executive power, the governor's action would be lawful. No one in the Florida judiciary can say otherwise, since the whole basis for the doctrine of judicial review (which they invoked when they refused to apply "Terri's law") is that any law at variance with the constitution is no law at all.
Gov. Bush has said that he recognizes the injustice being done to Terri Schiavo but is powerless to stop it. He is obviously not powerless, and his view of injustice is fully warranted.
The Florida state constitution declares: "All natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty … ."
The word "inalienable" means that the rights in question cannot be given away or transferred to another by law. Now, by allowing Michael Schiavo to starve his wife to death, Judge George W. Greer transfers to Schiavo the exercise of her right to life, doing on her behalf what the Florida state constitution declares she herself could not do (since an inalienable right cannot be given away).
Schiavo's decision, and any element of the law it is based on that has the same effect, are therefore unconstitutional on the face of it.
The governor of Florida cannot be obliged to enforce unconstitutional edicts, nor can he be faulted for acting to stop an evident violation of the constitution. In his oath as governor he swore to "support, protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States and of the state of Florida."
As supreme executive, he is obliged to act in their defense, and no court order can relieve him of this responsibility.
Any order by Judge Greer that seeks to prevent him from doing his sworn duty, as he sees fit, is invalid, and any attempt by the judge to incite armed forces to enforce his order would be an act of judicial insurrection against the constitution and government of Florida.
The judge may have whatever opinion he pleases, but when he attempts to use force to back it up, he breaks the law, going against the constitution of the state, which is to say against the supreme law in Florida.
In Federalist 81, when Alexander Hamilton lists the safeguards against "judiciary encroachments on the legislative authority," he cites in particular "its total incapacity to support its usurpations by force."
Accepting the notion that judicial orders at any level may constitute an executive power superior to the chief executive would give the judiciary just such a forceful capacity.
When every judicial decision carries the implied threat of armed insurrection, a key safeguard of liberty and self-government is removed. If any state governor, or the president of the United States acts so as to encourage the judiciary to assume such executive power, or the people to believe that it may constitutionally do so, he undermines the integrity of all our constitutions, and of American self-government as a whole.
This constitutes a grave dereliction of duty and would in saner times clearly be grounds for his impeachment by a legislature intent on defending the Florida constitution against "judiciary encroachments."
By God's grace, however, Terri Schiavo still lives, and Gov. Bush may yet act to redeem himself and his constitutional authority. Courageous action would be an act of statesmanship, defending the integrity of our constitutional system and the ultimate sovereignty of the people.
We have long been awaiting the statesman who could turn a crisis into such healing. Like Ronald Reagan before him, Jeb Bush could prove himself such a man. For Terri's sake and for the sake of constitutional self-government in America, he should act now. For failure to do so, he has no excuse.
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Be sure to visit Alan Keyes' communications center for founding principles, The Declaration Foundation.
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Former Reagan administration official Alan Keyes, was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Social and Economic Council and 2000 Republican presidential candidate.
Well, and since God made Jeb and George and God is Sovereign after all...well...you know...
Address the points in the article, and knock off the ad hominems.
But, no one is blaming the legislature. They are blaming Greer, Felos, and Michael Schiavo. There is too much rhetoric being thrown about, and it doesn't CHANGE anything.
You got it.
"Address the points in the article, and knock off the ad hominems."
Are you attacking me? EV...!!!
In his next article, Keyes will argue that Jeb Bush ought to station national guardsmen outside of every abortion clinic in Florida to prevent the murders that take place there daily.
</sarcasm>
Yes, I think last Thursday it was decided that the Bush family was at fault and that their careers were finished and that they are sub-human cowards. Plus, we're all boycotting Florida.
Makes perfect sense to me!
The problem is that the Florida constitution is poorly drafted. Keyes is right--there is a portion of the Constitution that reads as he says it does--Art. I, Sec. 2, I think.
But read on: Art. I, Sec. 9 states the following: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law..."
The two sections are clearly contradictory--Section 2 appears to state a blanket prohibition: all persons have a right to life--but then Sec. 9 clearly contemplates the state taking away life and liberty, which we know happens all the time--I'm sure Florida jails and prisons are packed with folks who have had their liberty rights taken away by the states, and the Florida cemetaries have a number of folks who were executed by the state, clearly taking away the "inalienable" right to life.
Unless Keyes wants to go around arguing that Florida should open its prisons and pardon all its death row inmates, I don't think he makes a very strong case, because Section 2 has to have the words "without due process" read into it, otherwise it ceases to make any sense.
This time last year I was in Florida. Wish I was there right now and not here in the cubicle. :(
It's beautiful in Ft Lauderdale today....about 78 and sunny.
Good point. One governor may use his executive power for good, but others might not be restrained and use it only in a difficult and terrible situation such as this. If there is no oversight on a governor (other than the threat of losing reelection years down the road) then the door opens for the abuse of power in ways that will be harmful.
I struggle to understand the reactions of certain people to the fact that Terri lingers. Although I can understand her parents' desire to hold on, if they and everyone who supports them truly believe Terri is suffering why wouldn't they want it to end quickly? I don't know whether Terri is fully aware of what is happening or not, but either way I hope she is not suffering and do not want any suffering she is experiencing to last long. Certainly I wish the tube had not been removed, but now I pray she isn't suffering or that any suffering will end sooner rather than later.
Attack the messenger, and hope you can then discredit the message...nice.
Feels like DU around here since I've been gone a few days.
Then YOU do something. THINK of something that will change this. I think there is no remedy left.
You are correct - and this is one of those reasons:
"If the governor tells the local police in Pinellas County to step aside, they must do so, or else be arrested and tried for an assault on the government of the state, which is to say insurrection."
That is so incorrect!! The only way the Gov could do that was with a COURT ORDER - which the Gov did not have.
I worked for a Sheriff's office - and I can tell you - NO STATE POLICE EVERY TOLD US WHAT TO DO - so NO governor would have that authority either.
He's trying to subscribe authority to Gov Bush which does not exist! The reason Keys is doing that is so he can blame Gov Bush for not acting.
This is just beyond the pale - and proves to me once more WHY I DID NOT AND NEVER WILL SUPPORT ALAN KEYS.
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