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To: Protect the Bill of Rights

We all need to TAKE SOME DEEP BREATHS AND CALM DOWN. There are *multiple* issues here, and lumping them all together isn't going to help.

1. Judges who make law. Technically this has nothing to do with Conservative vs. Liberal, except in the loose sense that a Conservative judge might be less inclined to do it. There is nothing that says that a Conservative judge can't decide to ignore jurisprudence, however, and do as he wishes. The only solution I see here is a Constitutional Amendment making it crystal clear that judges shall not make law. Religious right or no, we can *all* agree that this is something for which we can all strive. A relevant current-events story for this is gay marriage: unless we nip this one in the bud, it will be rammed down our throats. IMHO a Constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage only treats the symptom, not the disease: the real problem is judges making law, not this particular issue. This problem didn't begin with gay marriage, and, if we do nothing, it won't end there either.

2. Judges ignoring existing laws. This issue is separate from the one above, and is more closely related to the Terri Schiavo fight. However, like the issue above, it transcends Terri Schiavo, living wills, a right to die, etc. Recently a court struck down a law requiring parental notification when their child receives an abortion. We have a serious problem of judges deciding to strike laws they don't like. Maybe some fundamental change (once again, by Constitutional amendment) needs to be made in the way that laws passed by the legislature can be removed by unelected persons. I would think that, as a matter of pure principle, it should be much harder to remove a law passed by elected representatives than it would be to pass such a law.

Though we have seen examples of both here, these are separate issues that go beyond the Terri Schiavo case, and I guarantee that we will make no progress on either if we chain them solely to it. People like Bill O'Reilly have been ranting about activist judges for years. This case provides more ammunition in our cause to correct these injustices, but let's not sabotage our own efforts by reducing them to just one case. The case of Terri Schiavo is but one of many cases where judges have exceeded their authority and thwarted the wishes of the people via their elected representatives. We all know and understand the problem -- liberals, leftists, socialists, and closet (and not-so-closet) Communists have been unable to get their way via the legislature, so they get it by judicial fiat.

The only way we will correct these problems is if we calm down and present the entire tablau of judicial abuse before the American people in a rational manner. We're on the same side on this. Many of us have differing personal reasons, and *there is nothing wrong with that*. There is no reason why we can't work together. Just because some of us have religious reasons and some of us don't is immaterial. We're here precisely because (among other things) we believe in freedom, not the Thought Police. That's what the Dems do -- if you're not pro-choice they have no place for you -- and we're better than that.


180 posted on 03/31/2005 4:57:43 PM PST by Windcatcher
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To: Windcatcher

Not only the two examples you posit, but also judges throwing out laws that were enacted by a vote of the people.


191 posted on 03/31/2005 5:04:39 PM PST by westmichman (Pray for global warming. Friend of Ronnie -(stolen from The Patriot))
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