Posted on 10/31/2019 4:34:00 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
'You would not allow women and blacks to vote because that was not in the Constitution when it was ratified'
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii) attacked a judicial nominee Wednesday, charging that he would rule against suffrage for blacks and women if a hypothetical U.S. Constitution banned them from voting.
Hirono took issue with Trump judicial nominee Lawrence VanDyke's statement that he would "look to the Constitution" when considering whether laws were constitutional. She said during a Judiciary Committee hearing such an approach would threaten the voting rights of minorities and women if the Constitution had not already been changed to ensure voting rights for minorities and women.
"You testified that you would look to the Constitution and what was meant in the Constitution at the time that it took effect, with enactment, ratification, whatever," Hirono said. "This was back in 1789, when blacks couldn't vote and women couldn't vote. So if the Constitution had not been amended to let women and blacks vote, you would interpret the Constitution as not allowing these groups to vote?"
"Senator, the Constitution has been amended, and I'm thankful it has been amended," VanDyke said. The 15th Amendment banned states from denying the right to vote on the basis of race in 1870, while the 19th Amendment did the same on the basis of sex in 1919.
VanDyke is a judicial conservative who advocates for "originalism," the legal philosophy that the Constitution should be interpreted in accordance with how its words would have been understood at the time of its writing.
"If the Constitution had not been amended and you're applying the Constitution as it was enacted, 1789, the Constitution had not been amended to allow women and blacks to vote. By originalism, you would have to interpret the Constitution as not allowing these groups to vote. Isn't that right?" Hirono said.
"Senator, I believe that we have a system of separation of powers," VanDyke replied. "I believe that my job as a judge is to apply the law, not to make policy decisions. And I'm very thankful that the Constitution was amended, I think that was the right process to do it."
"Yes, but you know what, the point I'm making, of course, which you're trying to get around, is that originalism means that you would interpret Constitution at the time of its enactment, and you would not allow women and blacks to vote because that was not in the Constitution when it was ratified in 1789," Hirono said.
Hirono was incorrect to claim the Constitution as originally enacted did "not allow" women and blacks to vote; it was silent on the matter. Several states allowed free blacks and women to vote before the passage of the 15th and 19th Amendments mandated such policies in every state.
This is a profoundly stupid comment.
Originalists certainly respect the amendment process and the amendments that have followed.
Additionally, the Constitution DID NOT prevent women and minorities from voting. It simply did not address the issue until it was amended to insure suffrage for all citizens.
The Constitution includes its amendments. There is no originalist who fails to respect that fact.
I’m not sure who is the angriest critter in D.C., this moron Mazie Hirono or crazy Maxine Waters.
Perhaps Senator Hirono prefers the voting rule of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Until 1893, Hawaii had the “one man, one vote” rule, with the King being the one man with the one vote.
hirono is a typical leftist nitwit. Her knowledge is so limited and her thought-processes are so distorted that that always leaves no doubt of her functioning as a subhuman intellectually. What a Class A idiot. Dearest hawaiian voters: she reflects very poorly on your image as voters.
She hates the Constitution because it was designed to stand in the way of people in Government who want to strip rights from the people. So she attempts to de legitimize it.
Yes!, and the next two lines as well:
“there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again.”
The lack of women's suffrage made so much sense due to ignorant bitches like YOU, Mazie.
That woman is stupid. Hateful and stupid.
Sen. Mazie Hirono... I don’t understand how this person manages to breath...
Hirono “It’s the men in this country. And I just want to say to the men in this country: just shut up and step up, do the right thing for a change.”
-At the Kavanaugh hearing.
I will never forget the truths the Left revealed about themselves at the Kavanaugh hearing.
I won’t get a chance to forget because they are busy exhibiting those aspects again while trying to railroad our President.
The Left does not accept the “innocent until proven guilty”, “equal justice under the law” part of America because it stands in the way of their road to absolute power. Unfortunately that part is the bedrock of our Nation.
“The Democrats crave the abolition of the Constitution and individual freedom.
____________________________________________________
I think we are entering a very dangerous time in this countries history!
Stay vigilant!!!
There have been subsequent constitutional amendments governing this issue you dolt.
LOL
You got a winner!
If a constitution can be interpreted with one's own personal subjectivity rather than using the meaning at the time of enactment as a standard of meaning, and if it can truly be changed at the decree of a judge, then the Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please, Hence, the purpose of the constitution would be defeated, and there would be no reason to have one.
Crazi mazi is again showing how stupid she is.
VanDyke was born on December 12, 1972 in Midland, Texas. The following year, his family moved to Bozeman, Montana. VanDyke earned his Bachelor of Science, with highest honors, from Montana State University in 1997 and a Master of Arts in 2000. He received his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating from law school, VanDyke served as a law clerk to Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He then worked in private practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
From 2012–2013, he was an Assistant Solicitor General of Texas. He served as Solicitor General of Montana from 2013–2014, when he resigned to unsuccessfully run for the Montana Supreme Court. He became Solicitor General of Nevada under Attorney General Adam Laxalt in 2015, where he served until 2019. In 2019, VanDyke became a deputy Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he currently works.
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