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To: Political Junkie Too
I made it clear that it was MY definition using words in the Constitution and I stand by it.

You used the Preamble which has no standing as now, you Political moron. YOUR definition has no basis in law.

https://constitution.findlaw.com/preamble.html

The preamble is not technically a legal document, so the ideas contained within it are not enforceable in a court of law. But, it serves as a reminder of why the Constitution was written — to create laws around justice, defense, liberty, and prosperity for the United States.

[...]

the Preamble was not the subject of any extensive debate at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, having been added to the Constitution as an apparent afterthought during the final drafting process.

[...]

In the years following the Constitution's enactment, the Supreme Court of the United States cited the Preamble in several important judicial decisions, but the legal weight of the Preamble was largely disclaimed. As Justice Joseph Story noted in his Commentaries, the Preamble never can be resorted to, to enlarge the powers confided to the general government, or any of its departments.

The Supreme Court subsequently endorsed Justice Story's view of the Preamble, holding in Jacobson v. Massachusetts that, while the Constitution's introductory paragraph indicates the general purposes for which the people ordained and established the Constitution, it has never been regarded by the Court as the source of any substantive power conferred on the federal government.

The Preamble exercises absolulely no force as law.

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/pre-1-2/ALDE_00001234/

The U.S. Constitution: Preamble

The preamble sets the stage for the Constitution (Archives.gov). It clearly communicates the intentions of the framers and the purpose of the document. The preamble is an introduction to the highest law of the land; it is not the law. It does not define government powers or individual rights.

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/pre-1-2/ALDE_00001234/

Pre.2 Historical Background on the Preamble

[excerpts]

The initial draft of the Constitution’s Preamble was, however, fairly brief and did not specify the Constitution’s objectives. As released by the Committee of Detail on August 6, 1787, this draft stated: We the People of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following Constitution for the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity. While this draft was passed unanimously by the delegates, the Preamble underwent significant changes after the draft Constitution was referred to the Committee of Style on September 8, 1787. Perhaps with the understanding that the inclusion of all thirteen of the states in the Preamble was more precatory than realistic, the Committee of Style, led by Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, replaced the opening phrase of the Constitution with the now-familiar introduction We, the People of the United States. Moreover, the Preamble, as altered by Morris, listed six broad goals for the Constitution: to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty. The record from the Philadelphia Convention is silent, however, as to why the Committee of Style altered the Preamble, and there is no evidence of any objection to the changes the Committee made to the final version of the Preamble.

[...]

Nonetheless, there is no historical evidence suggesting the Constitution’s Framers conceived of a Preamble with any substantive legal effect, such as granting power to the new government or conferring rights to those subject to the federal government. Instead, the founding generation appeared to view the Constitution’s prefatory text as generally providing the foundation for the text that followed.


217 posted on 12/31/2023 7:42:38 AM PST by woodpusher
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To: woodpusher
you Political moron

And finally, the ad hominem comes out.

-PJ

219 posted on 12/31/2023 9:32:49 AM PST by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 217 | View Replies ]

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