The Constitution’s Week in Review – 2 July 2016

Happy Birthday America!

Most people associate July 4^th with our nation’s “birth” (the day was declared a national holiday after all), overlooking the fact (or perhaps they’ve never been taught) that it was two days earlier, on July 2^nd, when the Continental Congress actually voted to pass Virginia’s resolution calling for independence.  Writing the next day to Abigail, John Adams gushed:

“The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.  I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.  It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

The day after Adams wrote those words, the draft of the Declaration was “wordsmithed” and finally approved, leading to our national holiday being recognized on that day instead.  The story of the passing of Lee’s resolution is full of drama and intrigue.  Enjoy the read.[1]

While it is fitting and proper to wish the nation a “happy birthday,” it is also fitting and proper to note the precarious situation the country finds itself in.  Immense challenges: economic, cultural and constitutional, threaten our future prosperity and freedoms.

Take time to celebrate – and then get back to work reversing the wounding of our great nation that has taken place over the last eight years.

Article 3 – The Judiciary

Showing us in vivid detail the value of term limits for federal judges, Judge Richard Posner of the 7^th Circuit declared study of the original Constitution to be a complete waste of time,[2] at least for judges:

“I see absolutely no value to a judge of spending decades, years, months, weeks, day, hours, minutes, or seconds studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation,”

waxed the jurist, who was appointed to the bench in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan (who probably regrets the appointment).   I agree in part with the judge, however.  The Supreme Court has indeed turned the Constitution into a system of common law, judge-made law, departing from the idea of a fixed standard of law, to be modified only by “amendment in the way which the Constitution designates.”[3]

The judge’s amazing statement joins a host of equally controversial ones in the past that make it unlikely (in the eyes of some at least) that the judge would ever be nominated to the Supreme Court.  Condemning Justice Antonin Scalia for making politically charged public statements[4] while doing the same hardly enlarges one’s credibility.  So, since Congress seems unwilling to propose a term limits amendment, even one focused exclusively on jurists, and since the Article V Convention project is still being rabidly fought by some on the Right, it appears unlikely that we will ever have access to a mechanism for removing jurists whose opinions make them unsuitable for continued service.  Oh well.

1^st Amendment – Right of Conscience

As I’ve hinted numerous times in these pages, if you want a chance to express your right of conscience, you best do it soon – the right may not be around much longer. 

If you care to let your conscience peek out on the campus of the University of Northern Colorado, at least in some non-politically correct way, you might find yourself the subject of an inquisition by the “Bias Response Team.”[5]  At the moment, the teams seems content to merely point out apparently unperceived “bias” (translation: anything the Left does not believe in).

How long will it be before an unfavorable ruling by the “bias police” results in disciplinary action or worse for some unlucky college student?

In related news, the Mississippi state legislature’s attempt to provide some protection to their citizens to act within the limits of their conscience came screeching to a halt as  a U.S. District Judge ruled[6] that Mississippi’s House Bill 1523,[7] violated the U.S. Constitution.  The Bill was an attempt to pushback against last year’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing homosexual “marriage.”  LGBT groups applauded the ruling.
Hopefully, the ruling will be appealed but at the moment that is not certain.

So the question remains: is there any aspect of Christian faith/Christian conscience which should be allowed to inform your public actions?  What do you think?

2^nd Amendment – Never Let a Shooting Go To Waste

Sensing a change in the mood of the American public over whether persons on the government’s “no-fly” list should be allowed to purchase guns, Congressional Democrats are preparing to turn their “sit-in demonstration” into a road-show.  If you are comfortable with people who find themselves, for whatever reason, on a secret government list being denied the ability to purchase a gun, than go about your business, nothing to see here.  I see potential problems.

[1] http://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/4467/article3.pdf;jsessionid=6CF19E9A57FD05120A914311C63B1D7C?sequence=1
[2] http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/06/has_richard_posner_committed_an_impeachable_offence.html
[3] George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796.
[4] http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalias-political-outbursts/story?id=16694778
[5] http://www.gopusa.com/?p=11819?omhide=true
[6] https://mississippitoday.org/2016/06/30/federal-judge-strikes-down-house-bill-1523/
[7] http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2016/html/HB/1500-1599/HB1523SG.htm