Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Comment on AP - Yahoo! News:
Military recruiters told to accept gay applicants

Military recruiters told to accept gay applicants - Yahoo! News

Congress has passed laws, such as the UCMJ and Security Clearance laws, that limit the access of homosexuals to certain jobs. The courts have apparently declared that a violation of the XIVth Amendment.

Two contradictory problems are intertwined here.
1. Congress should have to cite the enumerated power that authorizes it to act under the Constitution. ObamaCare is simply an unconstitutional usurpation of State power by the federal government that barely pretends to have any tie to the "commerce clause."
2. The power of Judicial Review as currently practiced is largely assumed by the courts after Marbury v Madison but is not found in the Constitution.

We need to craft a new system that limits the assumed powers of the Courts and provides for a proper restraint on the Legislature. My suggestion is to shift the review function to the Electoral College, making the heads of the 3 branches at the State level ex officio members and with others as allotted serving for extended terms. Allow either a Court or a State to petition for review.

----
(fm the related Facebook thread)
Congress makes rules for the courts as well as for the military. Congress has the power to withdraw anything from the courts' purview for appellate review. It does no good however to say that you disagree with a judicial action simply because that found some act of the Legislature or Executive that you agree with to be unconstitutional. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land and acts that violate it are invalid. The only useful question as I see it is who should have the power to declare an act of the political branches invalid? Given that the Judiciary as set up under the Constitution is subordinate to legislative restriction it makes sense to give the power of Review to some other body. My suggestion is to give that power to another independent and underused political body, the Electoral College.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are encouraged but moderated.
Thoughtful contributions are welcome. Spam and abuse are not. This is my house.