|
|
|
When the liberals rant about the need for an independent judiciary, what they really want is a judiciary independent of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to define the jurisdiction of federal courts. Article III, Section 2 states: "the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress small make." When Chief Justice William Rehnquist issued his last annual report, he spent several pages discussing criticism of the courts and discouraging Congress from using its constitutional power to impeach judges. He then included this sentence: "There were several bills introduced in the last Congress that would limit the jurisdiction of the federal courts to decide constitutional challenges to certain kinds of government action." Rehnquist didn't say such action would be unconstitutional or unwise or undeserved or out of the mainstream. He added no comment; he just left that sentence for us to construe either as an invitation to congressional action or as a warning to his associates. When Chief Justice John Roberts was Special Assistant to the Attorney General during the Reagan Administration, he wrote a 27-page document defending the constitutional power of Congress to limit federal court jurisdiction. Proving that Supreme Court justices recognize this power over the courts, he pointed out that former Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts (no relation) had proposed an "amendment of the Constitution to remove Congress' exceptions power." The Owen Roberts amendment was passed by the Senate in 1953 but then tabled by the House. John Roberts concluded that Congress's constitutional authority to make exceptions to federal court jurisdiction is so clear that only a new constitutional amendment could take it away. Last year, Congress used its Article III power to order completion of a fence on our southern border near San Diego which had been held up for ten years by environmental lawsuits. By the REAL ID Act of 2005, Congress legislated that the fence should go forward with "expeditious construction" and that "no court . . . shall have jurisdiction to hear any cause or claim" to stop it. This law has already been upheld as constitutional by a federal court. Last year, Congress also gave immunity to gun manufacturers and owners from lawsuits that try to impose liability on them for the criminal misuse of their weapons by others. This Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was promptly signed by President Bush. In 2004, the House passed the Todd Akin (R-MO) bill to give immunity to the Pledge of Allegiance and the John Hostettler (R-IN) bill to give immunity to the Defense of Marriage Act against court challenges. Unfortunately, the Senate did not act. The American people are waiting for this year's Congress to pass legislation defining the jurisdiction of the federal courts so that supremacist judges will not be able to ban the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, the Boy Scouts, or the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. |
