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To: EternalVigilance; MHGinTN; curiosity
What color is the sky in your world? I've repeatedly told you to read Article III of the Constitution. You've obviously not done that. This is what the relevant portion states:

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court . . . The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution

I also told you that you obviously don't understand the holding in Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137 (1803) which is the seminal case confirming the authority of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution. The relevant language from Marbury states:

The constitution vests the whole judicial power of the United States in one supreme court, and such inferior courts as congress shall, from time to time, ordain and establish. . .

Certainly all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate them as forming the fundamental and paramount law of the nation, and consequently the theory of every such government must be, that an act of the legislature, repugnant to the constitution, is void. . . .

It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that rule. If two laws conflict with each other the courts must decide on the operation of each. . . .

So if a law be in opposition to the constitution; if both the law and the constitution apply to a particular case, so that the court must either decide that case conformably to the law, disregarding the constitution; or conformably to the constitution, disregarding the law; the court must determine which of these conflicting rules governs the case. This is of the very essence of judicial duty. . . .

For over two hundred years, it has been recognized that the Supreme Court possesses the final authority to determine whether the conduct of the executive branch comports with the Constitution. Thus, in Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 117 S.Ct. 1636 (1997), the Supreme Court held:

First, we have long held that when the President takes official action, the Court has the authority to determine whether he has acted within the law. Perhaps the most dramatic example of such a case is our holding that President Truman exceeded his constitutional authority when he issued an order directing the Secretary of Commerce to take possession of and operate most of the Nation's steel mills in order to avert a national catastrophe. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952). Despite the serious impact of that decision on the ability of the Executive Branch to accomplish its assigned mission, and the substantial time that the President must necessarily have devoted to the matter as a result of judicial involvement, we exercised our Article III jurisdiction to decide whether his official conduct conformed to the law. Our holding was an application of the principle established in Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137 (1803), that "[i]t is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is." Id., at 177.

In the most recent session of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts, citing Marbury, again confirmed the authority of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution. In the case of DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno, 126 S.Ct. 1854 (2006) he stated:

Chief Justice Marshall, in Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137 (1803), grounded the Federal Judiciary's authority to exercise judicial review and interpret the Constitution on the necessity to do so in the course of carrying out the judicial function of deciding cases. As Marshall explained, "[t]hose who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that rule." Id., at 177.

I've repeatedly challenged the asininity of your position by pointing out that if it were correct, as you claim, it would have eliminated the need for the 13th, 14th & 15th Amendments. You didn't provide any response to that point. You also didn't provide any response to my observation that if your position were correct, Clinton could have rejected the Bush v. Gore decision and entered an executive order requiring all the votes to be counted which would have created chaos and anarchy.

You (and your supporter MHGINTN) are embarrassing yourself with this absurd contention that the President has authority under the Constitution to reject a pronouncement of the Supreme Court. Your argument is so ridiculous you sound like a "jailhouse lawyer" or one of those tax seminar gurus who claims that the income tax laws are unconstitutional.

I have now provided you with both the actual text of the Constitution and several citations/quotes from Constitutional jurisprudence which clearly state that it is the role of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution.

It is now time for you to "put up" by identifying both the actual text from the constitution and constitutional jurisprudence for your asinine position or shut up.

268 posted on 08/05/2007 4:28:23 PM PDT by ComeUpHigher
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To: ComeUpHigher; EternalVigilance; MHGinTN; curiosity

I have now provided you with both the actual text of the Constitution and several citations/quotes from Constitutional jurisprudence which clearly state that it is the role of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution.

_______________________________________________________

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Presidential Oath

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Senate Oath

Etc. The President and the Congress have a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. This requires interpretation of the meaning of the Constitution.

Remember also that the Congress can withdraw jurisdiction from the U.S. Supreme Court; the Congress defines much of the Supreme Courts right to hear cases at all.

Article III, Section 2 clearly states: “the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.”

So don’t go too far with your thinking that the Supreme Court has sole responsibility or authority in the area of Constitutional interpretation.

As you can see the Congress has the duty to interpret and uphold the U.S. Constitution and has the power to regulate the Courts authority. Further, the President, if he disagrees strongly enough with the Court can simply ignore a Court holding and not enforce the holding (or continue to enforce the law the Court opposes). The Court has no power to enforce it’s decisions except through the other branches of the government.


287 posted on 08/05/2007 8:24:18 PM PDT by Greg F (The Congress voted and it didn't count and . . . then . . . it didn't happen at all.)
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