Tuesday, April 05, 2005

The Constitution is so last century

Matt at Democrappy is sounding the alarm about the latest frightening piece of proposed legislation to declare the bill of rights obsolete. The astonishingly titled "Constitution Restoration Act" both overturns the First Amendment's separation of church and state and disempowers the court from intervening. Here is a passage Matt quotes:
[T]he Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review, by appeal, writ of certiorari, or otherwise, any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an entity of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer or agent of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official or personal capacity), concerning that entity's, officer's, or agent's acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.
And part of his commentary:
Never mind that the CRA amends existing judicial review laws in a way never intended by the Founding Fathers; or that it does irreparable injury to separation of powers; or that it aims to allow precisely the kind of endorsement of religion by government against which this country was founded.

Those issues, important though they may be, are dwarfed by the fact that the CRA explicitly authorizes government officials to violate the law by preventing citizens from availing themselves of the judiciary - the one mechanism they have to protect them from tyranny of the majority.

More than religiosity run amok, more than a sodomizing of the constitution with a rusty word processor, the CRA is organized thuggery of precisely the sort that characterizes the legislative agenda of every fascist state.
Go read the rest of the post for more information. And contact your representatives to let them know you're a fan of Constitutional democracy.

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