To: tpaine
I'll take my constitutional support for gun rights anywhere I can get it.
There's nothing "knee-jerk" about supporting the Second Amendment based on the Amendment's text and its intent, and the constitutional structure. I can't follow you, however, into the quicksand of substantive due process, which is precisely what Poe stands for. Substantive due process: the idea that constitutional protections can be extended to anything that a majority of justices are willing to slap with a "LIBERTY" tag. It is a concept that defies a textual interpretation of the Consitution, and therefore defies the very purpose of a written constitution. It replaces the solid foundation of judicial review with the nascent tyranny of judicial rule. It is the epicenter of our current constitutional schism, and from its extra-constitutional abyss has arisen such notable monstrosities as Lochner, Griswold, and Roe. The right to keep and bear arms is too important to be thrown to the whims of courts, and too treasured to be slapped with the appellation of "right created by judge."
To: scalia_#1
"the idea that constitutional protections can be extended to anything that a majority of justices are willing to slap with a "LIBERTY" tag."
I'm mindful of your argument for separation of powers and specifically that justices do not have the power to make law.
However, I am also mindful of the fact that many of our founding fathers (I think James Madison for one) were against including a bill of rights in our constitution. They feared that government would decide that only those rights included in the "Bill of Rights" were protected from government. Their fears have come to pass, IMO.
62 posted on
10/22/2002 4:22:26 PM PDT by
Sam Cree
To: scalia_#1
Well you've established that you're against due process, because you think it is being 'abused' by the courts in the special interest cases you favor.
- I, and the USSC Justice quoted, think it can be used to protect ALL of the bill of rights. -- ALL of our liberties.
Sorry, but the 'special laws' you want to enact will just have to pass the same constitutional tests that protect our gun rights.
63 posted on
10/22/2002 4:36:47 PM PDT by
tpaine
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