Posted on 08/27/2003 7:21:22 AM PDT by bedolido
WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) recently introduced a legislative statute which would prevent the federal courts from being involved in religious issues which are considered to be under the Tenth Amendment jurisdiction of the states.
The "Religious Liberties Restoration Act," or S.1558, would help restore religious liberties that have been taken away by activist judges.
This legislation is not a constitutional amendment, but it would remove federal court review of cases involving the display of the Ten Commandments, changing the National Motto, or removing words from the Pledge of Allegiance.
Because a constitutional amendment would not be needed for this to pass, this bill would become law by a simple majority vote in both houses of Congress and signed by the President. As a result, federal judges would not be allowed to alter this law in any way.
The provision for voting on this kind of measure is found under Section III, Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution and has already been used 11 times in the previous Congressional session.
The "Religious Liberties Restoration Act" would disallow situations like the one facing Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Ten Commandments monument.
Additionally, it would give Americans the freedom to display the National Motto of "In God We Trust," say the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, and display the Ten Commandments in a designated spot chosen by the community, including government property.
Also, this bill would bring an end to conflicting rulings by federal judges regarding U.S. laws. For example, a federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled that displaying the Ten Commandments in a public building is constitutional, while another federal judge in Alabama says that it is not.
Donald E. Wildmon, the Chairman of the American Family Association, is encouraging citizens to contact their U.S. Senators and urge them to co-sponsor and support S. 1558.
Currently, the bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary for review when the U.S. Senate reconvenes in September.
Copyright © 2003 Talon News -- All rights reserved
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, "In the Justices We Trust?" posted on FR, other publication to come.
Let's just pass knee-jerk legislation custom tailored to carve out special legal protection for particular ideologies at the first sign of a setback.
This should do wonders to instill confidence in the rule of law. People will understand that the law is subject to change whenever a legislator gets offended by the opposition. We'll just pass a law undercutting the opposition so they can't do it again... uh, until they undercut us, that is.
So much pettiness. Can't we have some adults in Congress?
Two comments. First, this is silly, and could raise all sorts of issues as to what entails "religious issues". Would "Christians" scream if Utah decided that poligamy is now legal? What if Arizona said peyote is religious, and can't be outlawed? What will the DEA say about that?
Secondly, this will go nowhere, and would be ruled unconstitutional if it did. Its essentially "Setteled law" that "religious issues" are not part of the 10th Amendment. No State can establish, promote or give favor to any religion. Its settled. Live with it.
Legislators are supposed to be the ones who write laws, remember? Not judges.
But not on a whim or every turn of the dime.
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