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To: Zionist Conspirator
Robert Bork suggested in one of his books an idea that was being kicked around during the New Deal, when the Supreme Court was blocking New Deal legislation: allow congressional supermajorities to overrule Supreme Court decisions.

It's hard to see how this would work if the system did not give somebody's judicial opinion the force of law. Courts wouldn't know what to do with it. But any unanimous Supreme Court decisions are not likely to be that controversial. In a controversial case, there's bound to be a dissent. So the system of overruling would just have to give that opinion the force of law.

So, I would suggest something like the following. Where the Supreme Court decision is 5-4, 2/3 votes of both Houses of Congress give the minority opinion the force of law. Where it's 6-3, you need 3/4. Where it's 7-2, you need 90%. Something like that.

If you're unhappy about giving Congress that much power, you can also require presidential assent.

In this way, you could overrule Supreme Court decisions without cluttering the Constitution with too many amendments.

141 posted on 06/30/2003 4:25:35 PM PDT by aristeides
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To: aristeides
that may be good for the future but right now an ammendment is the way we have to prevent any errosion of the family insititution.
147 posted on 06/30/2003 4:31:09 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: aristeides
The only problems with what you suggest are that it would be easy manipulable (is that a word?) and the people who would be "pro" or "con" would change with whatever ideology was being promoted by the Court. This means the side overruled by Congress would want the law changed and that in agreement would the defend the law, with each side relying not on any concrete principal for its position but merely on how best to get its program passed at any particular time. And we have too much of that philosophy as it is.

Also the "rights" ideology which is the source of all this would be left in the Constitution. That document, as I said, should never have been converted into a work of sublime political or anthropological philosophy. It should have simply remained the rules for the functioning of the government. Until its highfalutin philosophical ramifications are removed and it is in fact turned back into a government rulebook we will never be safe from such social manipulation.

Constitutional amendments, from the very beginning, should have been limited to such things as adding a fourth branch of government, eliminating a branch, changing rules for qualification for any federal office, etc.

164 posted on 06/30/2003 4:45:05 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (G-d's laws or NONE!!!)
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To: aristeides
Hmmmmmmmm..........need to think about that. First blush, wouldn't you need a constitutional amendment to put this in place to begin with?
177 posted on 06/30/2003 4:58:10 PM PDT by PISANO
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To: aristeides
Interesting thought -- but would more new deal programs have gone through if Congressional supermajorities had been able to overrule SCOTUS?
373 posted on 06/30/2003 9:02:12 PM PDT by ellery
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