Posted on 03/23/2002 2:13:25 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
Thanks for all your efforts, BillyBob!
May I call your attention to a suggestion I made on this thread? The idea is simply to persist in referring to the bill as "the unconstitutional CFR." This should help make people aware that the bill is indeed unconstitutional.
Jim, would it be possible to have a new category, "Opposing the unconstitutional CFR" on the FR donations page?
Folks, please do what you can to help the Congressman in this endeavor. Our (christians and conservatives) very existence in our own communities is on the line here and we really do need to get the ad prohibitions in this bill if not the whole bill killed.
Regards.
PS I hope you enjoy your vacation.
This is a good thing for your local chapter to get involved in.
However, a contribution from overseas, even in the form of a check written in francs, for instance, can be handled by an American bank. A draft in dollars is preferred, but the other can be accepted.
Sorry for confusing you with my attempt at humor.
Billybob
With that said, Starr is a former Circuit Court judge and a former Solicitor General of the US. As the poster just after you noted. Starr was 23-1 against the Clintons in court cases. He is one of the best appelate lawyers in the nation, and that's where the ultimate decision on Shays-Meehan will be made -- on appeal, in the Supreme Court.
With that said, the prior Supreme Court cases, about 24 of them, are so solidly against portions of Shays-Meehan that a blind lawyer with Tourette's Syndrome could get this law knocked out. Plus there will be about 100 lawyers in the case against this law, me included. Every one of us will give it our best shot to drive a wooden stake through the heart of Shays-Meehan.
WE WILL WIN THIS CASE. I feel so strongly about it that I have pledged to resign my 26-year membership in the Bar of the US Supreme Court if we don't win this case. For the first time ever, I have put not only my reputation but my profession on the line in a single case.
The key to this case is not Ken Starr or any other lawyer. It is the two dozen cases already decided by the Supreme Court which they would have to reverse in order to uphold Shays-Meehan. The Court reverses its own cases very rarely, and very cautioously. It has never in its history reversed a line of two dozen prior cases.
Does that help?
Billybob
Morning Ping!
You know that's not necessarily a bad thing.
President Bush is gambling that Shays-Meehan will be struck down by the Supreme Court, and even more importantly, that it will be struck BEFORE the November election. If that happens, the issue is not only defanged for this election, it is reversed. Daschle & comapny will be placed on the defensive before the public. "Why did you push so hard to pass a bill that would have stolen the First Amendment rights of American citizens?"
I disagree with the decision that the Bush team made. However, I thoroughly understand it. I would never have gambled with the Constitution.
But if the Court strikes CFR before the election, and the Democrats suffer serious defeats in both the House and Senate, the Bush team's calculus will be vindicated. Furthermore, with the Senate then in Republican hands, there will be no more debacles like the political assassination of Judge Pickering, (Keep in mind that also means better Justices on the Supreme Court, when President Bush gets his opportunites to make appointments there.)
I'm sure my comment does not change your mind on this. I trust it makes you a touch more hopeful about future events involveing the courts.
Billybob
In this case, for the first time ever, it posted the full text of every brief filed in a case. Because of the fast schedule, only 14 attorneys managed to get briefs in. Only one of them -- mine -- urged the Court to "strike" the Florida Supreme Court decision and "do nothing else."
As it turned out, the Court neither affirmed nor reversed the Florida SC in round one. It "vacated" (struck) the decision and did nothing else. And the Court did that unanimously.
Anyone who is a glutton for punishment can put up a link and read all these briefs. In that case the ACLU was on the other side, supporting Gore. In this case the ACLU is on our side, opposing Shays-Meehan.
Billybob
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