It is absolutely crucial to know the Founders were indeed assuming certain judicial perspectives in projecting future cases.
I disagree and hold the framers intent irrelevant. The Constitution and Amendments were not acts of the legislature or legislators. They are acts of, and ratified by, the people or the political communities known as states. They are not acts of the Federal government but acts of the people acting in their sovereign capacity. The only relevant meaning was the plain meaning of the words as understood by the ratifiers. Nobody ratified what the framers may have assumed but did not put in the words presented to the ratifiers.
But here Scalia himself trips and falls into a trap:
"It is of no particular use to go back and find a 200 year old quote as to what some Framer may have intended. Nobody voted to ratify his intent. They voted to ratify the words themselves and the ordinary understanding of the words."
That is all me, not Scalia. What a Framer may have intended, but did not put in the plain words presented to the ratifiers, was not ratified by anyone, and is irrelevant.
LIKE INTERPRETING THE DREAMS OF PHARAOH Date: November 6, 1988, Sunday, Late City Final Edition Section 7; Page 11, Column 1; Book Review Desk Byline: By ANTHONY LEWIS; Anthony Lewis is a columnist for The New York Times. Lead: LEAD: ORIGINAL INTENT AND THE FRAMERS' CONSTITUTION By Leonard W. Levy. 525 pp. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. $19.95.
[excerpt]
The convention met in closed sessions. No stenographic record was kept, though one easily could have been. The only substantial notes were kept by Madison, and he never made any reference to them in all the hot arguments about the meaning of the Constitution during the early years of the Republic. In the first Congress, which included many delegates to the convention, no one tried to prove a point by mentioning what had been said there. And Madison did not allow his notes to be published until after his death, half a century after the convention.
Even if the delegates had wanted their intentions to be binding, discovering them is next to impossible. Madison's notes are often sketchy. Many delegates to the convention said little, and 16 of the 55 did not sign the Constitution.
Nor was there one intent on the issues that now concern us. As in any such convocation, the delegates saw different meanings in the words on which they finally agreed. Some of the disagreements soon surfaced. Hamilton thought the Constitution gave Congress power to charter a bank. Madison thought not - but later changed his mind!
Moreover, a true reading of ''original intent'' would have to include the minds of the different men who voted to approve the Constitution, the members of the ratifying conventions that met in each state. The record of those assemblies ranges from corrupt to nonexistent. It is impossible to say what their understanding was.
The legislative history of the Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments - on which so many legal disputes are focused now - is even scantier. There is virtually no record of what individual members of Congress thought or said in proposing the Amendments in 1789. Mr. Levy is particularly interesting on the rather cynical politics of the Bill of Rights.
''Just what our forefathers did envision,'' Justice Robert H. Jackson said, ''or would have envisioned had they foreseen modern conditions, must be divined from materials almost as enigmatic as the dreams Joseph was called upon to interpret for Pharaoh.''
In brief summary, those are some of the reasons why original intention cannot be a neat solution to the problem of expounding our Constitution - and living under it. But no summary can do justice to the richness of Mr. Levy's scholarship, or its zest.
- - - - - - - - - -
And again, for all of Scalia's brilliance and integrity he completely shanks this explanation and intent of the 14A:
"An example might be the 14th Amendment citizenship clause, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."
The words are clear enough to include anchor babies. The baby (regardless of the parents) is born in the U.S. and subject to the jurisdiction (laws) of the U.S. Whether the framer did, or did not, consider the question of anchor babies has no effect on the meaning of the words that were adopted. If it had an unintended consequence, amend it."
Again, that is not Scalia. That is all me. And the words of 14A clearly and unambiguously say that all persons born in the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the U.S.
ALL babies born in the U.S., and subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S., are natural born U.S. citizens. This is so without reference to the citizenship or status of the parents.
The exception to citizenship is children born in the U.S. who are not subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. laws. Those are the children of accredited diplomats or visiting royalty. The child of an accredited ambassador would have diplomatic immunity from U.S. law.
And yes, THIS is exactly why "INTENT" is so crucial and TEXT (which Scalia favored) should carry LESS weight. FAR less weight. PROOF? By technicality, the text Scalia prioritizes to make Court decisions and mis-intent of the Framer's 14A anchor-baby clause (that had NOT considered our reptilian future of ACLU-type saboteurs of the USCON) is what's about to destroy the Republic.
You are quite mistaken about the 14A framers' intent. The 14A debates explicitly acknowledged that the children of Chinese and European aliens fell within the clause. There was debate about Indian tribes and whether or not they were subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
Those Founders or Court also obviously overlooked the original illegal trespassing which created the "anchor-baby" theft-by-extension of US sovereignty. But then they never imagined by NOT dotting "i"s and NOT crossing "t"s ACLU-types would marry the Scalias with the ACLU.
The Framers of this law clearly (to many of us) did NOT intend for this theft-by-deception or "accidental" citizenry to become THE RULE. Their INTENT was that it would be a compassionate EXCEPTION. Funny how the Left are able to exploit Literalism along with a "Living, breathing Constitution". Heads The Left wins; Tails the Republic loses.
With all due respect to Scalia, his opinion on this issue is dead wrong. I presume he (like some Liberals) projected emotion into his opinion. As an Italian decedent/immigrant whose relatives babies became "Instant Citizens" as a result, his Mexican Border scenario is a gross abuse of this kind of "Anchor" situation.
Again, this is mine and not Scalia.
It is absolutely correct that if two alien parents, both of whom are in a detention center, have a baby in the United States, that baby meets the conditions of 14A and is a natural born U.S. citizen. See U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual, Volume 7, 7 FAM 1100, linked and quoted below. If that is not desired, then an amendment is needed to change it.
My anchor baby scenario is not a gross abuse of anything. It is, and has long been, a legal fact. The 14A framers were post-Civil War legislators who were actively encouraging immigration. They had Indian territory to conquer. This was done by removing the Indian population and replacing it. They needed the replacements.
U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 7 - Consular Affairs
7 FAM 1100 ACQUISITION AND RETENTION OF U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONALITY
7 FAM 1110 ACQUISITION OF U.S. CITIZENSHIP BY BIRTH IN THE UNITED STATES
(CT:CON-314; 08-21-2009)
(Office of Origin: CA/OCS/PRI)
7 FAM 1111 INTRODUCTION
(CT:CON-314; 08-21-2009)
a. U.S. citizenship may be acquired either at birth or through naturalization subsequent to birth. U.S. laws governing the acquisition of citizenship at birth embody two legal principles:
(1) Jus soli (the law of the soil) - a rule of common law under which the place of a persons birth determines citizenship. In addition to common law, this principle is embodied in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the various U.S. citizenship and nationality statutes.
(2) Jus sanguinis (the law of the bloodline) - a concept of Roman or civil law under which a persons citizenship is determined by the citizenship of one or both parents. This rule, frequently called citizenship by descent or derivative citizenship, is not embodied in the U.S. Constitution, but such citizenship is granted through statute. As U.S. laws have changed, the requirements for conferring and retaining derivative citizenship have also changed.
[...]
d. Subject to the Jurisdiction of the United States: All children born in and subject, at the time of birth, to the jurisdiction of the United States acquire U.S. citizenship at birth even if their parents were in the United States illegally at the time of birth.
(1) The U.S. Supreme Court examined at length the theories and legal precedents on which the U.S. citizenship laws are based in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898). In particular, the Court discussed the types of persons who are subject to U.S. jurisdiction. The Court affirmed that a child born in the United States to Chinese parents acquired U.S. citizenship even though the parents were, at the time, racially ineligible for naturalization.
(2) The Court also concluded that: The 14th Amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including children here born of resident aliens, with the exceptions or qualifications (as old as the rule itself) of children of foreign sovereigns or their ministers, or born on foreign public ships, or of enemies within and during a hostile occupation of part of our territory, and with the single additional exception of children of members of the Indian tribes owing direct allegiance to their several tribes. The Amendment, in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born within the territory of the United States, of all other persons, of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States. Pursuant to this ruling:
(a) Acquisition of U.S. citizenship generally is not affected by the fact that the parents may be in the United States temporarily or illegally; and that
(b) A child born in an immigration detention center physically located in the United States is considered to have been born in the United States and be subject to its jurisdiction. This is so even if the childs parents have not been legally admitted to the United States and, for immigration purposes, may be viewed as not being in the United States.
(3) Blue List Cases Children of Foreign Diplomats: 7 FAM
1100 Appendix J (under development) provides extensive guidance on the issue of children born in the United States to parents serving as foreign diplomats, consuls, or administrative and technical staff accredited to the United States, the United Nations, and specific international organizations, and whether such children are born subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
§1401. Nationals and citizens of United States at birth
The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:
(a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof;
(b) a person born in the United States to a member of an Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or other aboriginal tribe: Provided, That the granting of citizenship under this subsection shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of such person to tribal or other property;
(c) a person born outside of the United States and....
(d) a person born outside of the United States and....
(e) a person born in an outlying possession of the United States of parents one of whom is a citizen of the United States who has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year at any time prior to the birth of such person;
(f) a person of unknown parentage found in the United States while under the age of five years, until shown, prior to his attaining the age of twenty-one years, not to have been born in the United States;
(g) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States....
(h) a person born before noon (Eastern Standard Time) May 24, 1934, outside the limits and jurisdiction of the United States of an alien father and a mother who is a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, had resided in the United States.
Far from overlooking children born of aliens, there is a chain of cases, especially pertaining to Chinese aliens not eligible for naturalization.
In re Look Tin Sing, Fed. Rep. 905, 906 (1884), Justice Field
The first section of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution declares that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the state wherein they reside." This language would seem to be sufficiently broad to cover the case of the petitioner. He is a person born in the United States. Any doubt on the subject, if there can be any, must arise out of the words "subject to the jurisdiction thereof." They alone are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States who are within their dominions and under the protection of their laws, and with the consequent obligation to obey them when obedience can be rendered; and only those thus subject by their birth or naturalization are within the terms of the amendment. The jurisdiction over these latter must, at the time, be both actual and exclusive. The words mentioned except from citizenship children born in the United States of persons engaged in the diplomatic service of foreign governments, such as ministers and ambassadors, whose residence, by a fiction of public law, is regarded as part of their own country. This ex-territoriality of their residence secures to their children born here all the rights and privileges which would inure to them had they been born in the country of their parents. Persons born on a public vessel of a foreign country, while within the waters of the United States, and consequently within their territorial jurisdiction, are also excepted. They are considered as born in the country to which the vessel belongs. In the sense of public law, they are not born within the jurisdiction of the United States.
Ex Parte Chin King, 35 Fed. Rep. 354, 355 (1888)
By the common law, a child born within the allegiancethe jurisdictionof the United States, is born a subject or citizen thereof, without reference to the political status of condition of its parents. McKay v. Campbell, 2 Sawy. 118; In re Look Tin Sing, 10 Sawy. 353, 21 Fed. Rep. 905; Lynch v. Clarke, 1 Sandf. Ch. 583.
In re Wong Kim Ark, 71 Fed. Rep. 382, 386 (1896)
The fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States must be controlling upon the question presented for decision in this matter, irrespective of what the common-law or international doctrine is. But the interpretation thereof is undoubtedly confused and complicated by the existence of these two doctrines, in view of the ambiguous and uncertain meaning of the qualifying phrase, subject to the jurisdiction thereof, which renders it a debatable question as to which rule the provision was intended to declare. Whatever of doubt there may be is with respect to the interpretation of that phrase. Does it mean subject to the laws of the United States, comprehending, in this expression, the allegiance that aliens owe in a foreign country to obey its laws; or does it signify, to be subject to the political jurisdiction of the United States, in the sense that is contended for on the part of the government? This question was ably and thoroughly considered in Re Look Tin Sing, supra, where it was held that it meant subject to the laws of the United States.
Lynch v. Clark, 1 Sandf. 583 (1844), as published in New York Legal Observer, Volume III, 1845, pp. 236-260 at 246.
5. It is a necessary consequence, from what I have stated, that the law which had prevailed on this subject, in all the states, became the governing principle or common law of the United States. Those states were the constituent parts of the United States, and when the union was formed, and further state regulation on the point terminated, it follows, in the absence of a declaration to the contrary, that the principle which prevailed and was the law on such point in all the states, became immediately the governing principle and rule of law thereon in the nation formed by such union. If there had been any diversity on the subject in the state laws, it might have been difficult to ascertain which of the conflicting state rules was to become, or did become, the national principle. And if such diversity had existed, it is reasonable to believe that the framers of the constitution would have borne in mind, and enacted a uniform rule, or authorized Congress to establish one. The entire silence of the constitution in regard to it, furnishes a strong confirmation, not only that the existing law of the states was entirely uniform, but that there was no intention to abrogate or change it. The term citizen, was used in the constitution as a word, the meaning of which was already established and well understood. And the constitution itself contains a direct recognition of the subsisting common law principle, in the section which defines the qualification of the President. "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President," &c. The only standard which then existed, of a natural born citizen, was the rule of the common law, and no different standard has been adopted since. Suppose a person should be elected President who was native born, but of alien parents, could there be any reasonable doubt that he was eligible under the constitution? I think not. The position would be decisive in his favor that by the rule of the common law, in force when the colonies and in the states, under the constitution was adopted, he is a citizen.
Won Kim Ark, 169 U. S. 649, 674-75 (1898)
So far as we are informed, there is no authority, legislative, executive or judicial, in England or America, which maintains or intimates that the statutes (whether considered as declaratory or as merely prospective) conferring citizenship on foreign-born children of citizens have superseded or restricted, in any respect, the established rule of citizenship by birth within the dominion. Even those authorities in this country, which have gone the farthest towards holding such statutes to be but declaratory of the common law have distinctly recognized and emphatically asserted the citizenship of native-born children of foreign parents. 2 Kent Com. 39, 50, 53, 258 note; Lynch v. Clarke, 1 Sandf.Ch. 583, 659; Ludlam v. Ludlam, 26 N.Y. 356, 371.
Passing by questions once earnestly controverted, but finally put at rest by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, it is beyond doubt that, before the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 or the adoption of the Constitutional
169 U. S. 675
Amendment, all white persons, at least, born within the sovereignty of the United States, whether children of citizens or of foreigners, excepting only children of ambassadors or public ministers of a foreign government, were native-born citizens of the United States.
With all due respect to Scalia, his opinion on this issue is dead wrong.
With all due respect, Scalia and I are correct and your dissent is not well taken.
Spot on. All of it. We agree in our approach to constitutional interpretation, in each of the cases you presented.
I also agree with you that some of those things are you, not Scalia. I was surprised to see that Scalia had said some of the things in your message, and pleased - I had not realized that Scalia was THAT close to me. I had problems with several of his interpretations.
But now I see that that was you, not him, which makes sense.
So, we agree on HOW the Constitution should be interpreted. That's something. There are not many people out there who see things quite this way. Many claim to, but then they go sideways when they come to something they really, really want politically. The 14th Amendment and anchor babies is an obvious example. Your analysis is absolutely right, but people who just want to stop the phenomena simply bend the language to suit them, which makes them dishonest, frankly.
Your ability to cut through the fog on the matter is rare. I appreciate it.
The only dumbasses are those who refuse to face the reality of desperation.
In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Take your fucking snowflake BLEEDING HEART BULLSHIT, somewhere else. This aint no socialist chit chat site.
ROFLMAO!
Spoken by a cog in the machine of the state whose whole fucking life revolved around being a cog in the socialist system!
Not that you will understand this.
In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Yes,but all useful skills to have if you want to be a bully boy for Big Government,Inc. He knows how to suck up to those who boss him around in the vain hope he can become one of them.
In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Anyone that wants their religious beliefs enacted as our as our law of the land, ---- should be shot for treason..
Per the US Constitution: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."
Wanting to see my moral beliefs become the law of the land is not levying war against the United States or adhering to their enemies.
"Treason against the United States, shall consist in -- to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."
You want to see your RELlGIOUS beliefs become the law of the land, ---- this is giving our enemies aid and comfort, --- by violating the first amendment to the Constitution...
Our enemies want to see our Constitution infringed and violated. ---- As does your proposal...
You want to see your RELlGIOUS beliefs become the law of the land, ---- this is giving our enemies aid and comfort, --- by violating the first amendment to the Constitution...
Thank God you don't get to decide what words mean. Legally trained judges do, and they went to places like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Chicago, where they learned what legal words mean on a consistent basis.
Me too. I speak the same language they do.
You speak the language of "I have angry politics, and I will make words mean whatever I say they mean in order to impose my will!"
Fortunately, you are just one crank. When it comes to the meaning of words of law, you can take it to the bank that what I say is true and accurate 100% of the time. Words mean things. Legal words mean things. They mean what courts and the legal profession and tradition and the institutions that teach these things say they mean. They do not mean what any old angry man thinks they mean.
Thank God. Because it means the law is predictable, and no subject to the whims of angryman.
Because I understand the law objectively and professionally, I can objectively and professionally tell you the places where I disagree with it, and what would have to happen for it to be changed to reflect what I want.
All you can do is go ballistic and try to redefine words to suit you - but honestly you're just an ignorant old jackass and not one other person in the world cares what you think words mean.
It is NOT TREASON under the Constitution of the United States for me to hope that my Catholic beliefs are enacted into law either by Congress, or through Supreme Court opinions. That's our legal system, that's our political system. That's how the game is played, and it is not treasonous for me to want to get my way.
You can make up whatever meanings of words you want to, but you're just a single angry old man pounding on a keyboard. You don't get to define what one single word means, you never will, and you're wrong.
What you want will never happen, because you don't get to define anything.
I don't either, but at least I am realist who knows what words DO mean, and what the system actually IS, so I don't sit around spinning fantasies of what the world would look like IF ONLY I got to define words to mean what I want them to mean.
You don't like Catholic beliefs or ideas and don't want to see them prevail. That's fine. I do. That's also fine. It's not treason. It never will be treason. And given fertility and demographic realities, over time I am very likely to win, and see what I want as the law of the land. There is no chance of that ever happening for you.
You're cranky and angry, you'll die cranky and angry. And after you die, you'll wake up and discover that the Catholics were right all along. So you are doomed to the defeat of everything you believe in in this world AND the next, for all eternity.
There isnt anything socialist about being a nation of laws, enforcing those laws... and funding, via taxes, the incarceration and LE costs to enforce those laws.
Where you anarchist LIBERALterians stumble, is understanding that our forefathers did expect that TAXES would be collected and utilized to fund benefits to the populace AS A WHOLE, via a tax collected system. All parts of the populace use the roadway, get arrested, use the courts system, use the public schools... so there is nothing socialist about funding it from a tax base.
Not all of the populace needs welfare, healthcare, cellphones, food stamps and housing... raising taxes to supply that shit is INCOME DISTRIBUTION... ie socialism.
Get your shit straight... because equating enforcing laws to welfare is a far stretch... one used by anarchist to justify anarchy.
I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
#94. To: Vicomte13, three strikes, Jesuit, Jesuit, Jesuit (#93)
Post #29: Kavanaugh has tutored at Washington Jesuit Academy, where he sits on the board of directors, and at J.O. Wilson Elementary School, according to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals website. He went to high school at Georgetown Prep which Justice Neil Gorsuch also attended By being Catholic he's "Jesuit"?
More word redefinitions, I see.
Jesuit Academy, J.O. School, Georgetown Prep. Jesuit, Jesuit, and Jesuit.
Dang right he's Jesuit! What's your redefinition of Jesuit, Mark of the Beast Jesuit tattoo on his forehead?
So, we agree on HOW the Constitution should be interpreted. That's something. There are not many people out there who see things quite this way. Many claim to, but then they go sideways when they come to something they really, really want politically. The 14th Amendment and anchor babies is an obvious example.
I guess we agree. Thanks for the comments.
I would note that when stating what the law is, I try to state the prevailing interpretation with which I may disagree. As a result, I get accused of advocating all nature of things I disagree with.
Yes, you note a common sideways occurrence. Activist judges are railed against, and then a desired result is advocated which requires a differently activist judge to achieve.
Senator Jacob Howard stated upon introducing his amendment to the House version of the 14th Amendment (adding the citizenship clause), "This amendment which I have offered is simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of the land already, that every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons."
The Lynch v. Clark case is notable as it is from 1844 and clearly shows the court affirmation of citizenship for babies of aliens before the 14th Amendment existed. Granting citizenship to the children of aliens was not a new concept begun with the 14th Amendment. The Amendment placed the matter beyond the reach of the legislature to change, primarily with the then recently freed slaves in mind.
A clergyman who has taken his vows and joined the Society of Jesus. That's a Jesuit.
Lay people may agree with the Jesuits, but they're not ordained clergy and they're not themselves Jesuits.
"Catholic" is not synonymous with "Jesuit", or vice versa.
A Jesuit is not a Franciscan, and neither is a Domincan. All three are clergy alone. All three are Catholic. And none of them are synonymous with Catholic. If you haven't taken holy orders and vows, you're not a Jesuit by definition.
That's how I define it - which is to say, that is what the word actually MEANS.
The other point is that you think Jesuits are very bad, but I think Jesuits are very good. You use the term as a term of alarm and accusation. I use the term to recognize some of the brightest and most capable clergy in the Catholic religion.
To distill it down: You - Jesuit BAAAAD. Me - Jesuit GOOD.
Meh. He made a career of meddling in Catholic domains in Central and South America. And, for a convicted Watergate felon, he sure wrote a lot of books. Maybe because he just needed the money.
I wouldn't trust this guy any farther than the old Soviet-era defectors. They can say anything they want and sometimes the wilder it is, the better their handlers (or publishers) like it.
You don't like Catholic beliefs or ideas and don't want to see them prevail. That's fine. I do. That's also fine. It's not treason. It never will be treason.
You want to see your RELlGIOUS beliefs become the law of the land, ---- this is giving our constitutions enemies aid and comfort, --- by violating the first amendment to the Constitution...
You keep trying to make a rhetorical distinction: --- " It is NOT TREASON under the Constitution of the United States for me to hope that my Catholic beliefs are enacted into law either by Congress, or through Supreme Court opinions ----" (court opinions make law?)
Whereas our Constitution is quite clear that we --- shall make no laws respecting the 'establishments' (beliefs) of our various religions..
Sucks to be a fanatic like you.
(Btw, As a boy I was confirmed as a Catholic, agree with most Christian principles, but am now agnostic enough to admit that I'll never understand religion.)
Its not a question of what I want or dont want. Youre the solipsistic here, who mistakes his own opinions on the way things ought to be with the way things are. Im the realist who discusses the way things ARE, whether I like it or not.
In America, Judges make law. Always have. Thats why Roe is the law of the land.
Im the realist who discusses the way things ARE, whether I like it or not.
It is NOT TREASON under the Constitution of the United States for me to hope that my Catholic beliefs are enacted into law either by Congress, or through Supreme Court opinions ----" (court opinions make law?)
Our Constitution is quite clear that we --- shall make no laws respecting the 'establishments' (beliefs) of our various religions..
Your 'realistic' desire to make religious law is unconstitutional, and gives aid and comfort to enemies who desire the same...
Our Constitution is quite clear that we --- shall make no laws respecting the 'establishments' (beliefs) of our various religions..
Your 'realistic' desire to make religious law is unconstitutional, and gives aid and comfort to enemies who desire the same...
Our Constitution is a short document that puts out a general structure of government, leaves just about everything to politics, and is clear as mud as to the actual power relationship between the Judiciary and either the Legislature or the Executive.
The Constitution is chock full of Common Law terms, which it does not define: the Common Law is ASSUMED by the Constitution, and the Common Law is judge-made law.
Practice has supplied the answer to the question marks: judicial review for constitutionality has been a hallmark of the Supreme Court since Marbury v. Madison, which was decided by a Court full of Founders, addressing a President and a Cabinet likewise full of Founders.
Marbury v. Madison is as much a product of the Founding Fathers as the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, and IT establishes that, yes, the Founding Fathers fully intended for the Supreme Court to be the final arbiter of what the Constitution means - and to create the Common Law of the Constitution, which is precisely what they have been doing ever since.
Our system of government is in fact "Catholic", in the sense that it is based on traditions of institutions dealing with each other in certain ways. You would like for our system of government to be "Protestant", with the written Constitution as the "Sola Scriptura" document which anybody, like you, can read and know what it all means just from the words in that document.
That IS NOT our system of government. And at NO POINT from its ratification by the Founding Fathers through the establishment of judicial review by the Founding Fathers (in Marbury) until today has our government resembled anything remotely approaching what you insist is "The Constitution" above.
No. Your little fairy tale of what the Constitution is, and means, and says, is simply your solipsistic read of some words, by your understanding. The law is what I have been saying - what I have been educated in, and am licensed to say in two jurisdictions. It is not what you believe it to be, based on your simplistic read and understanding of some words.
It IS not, and it never will be. The Constitution is not the Bible, and American government is not based on Sola Scriptura. It DOESN"T MATTER what you read the words to say. You are one single man, and your opinion governs nothing. I'm just one single man, and I know that my opinion doesn't govern anything either, but I earn a living by knowing what those written words ACTUALLY MEAN within the structure of government that we ACTUALLY HAVE, and THAT - and not your little exercise in solipsistic "Sola Scriptura" literalist constitutionalism - is what the Constitution IS, and MEANS.
I have to get it right, because if I don't, I don't eat.
I would not be insulting you so directly if you were not calling me a traitor over and over again. But you are. I am not a traitor. But you are a stubborn, ignorant old fool who cannot read the law properly, because you don't understand the words you are reading - and so therefore you supply what YOU think they mean, and manipulate them to attain the results YOU want to see. Problem is, you didn't go to law school and get to put on a black robe such that YOUR opinions have any weight on this matter, and so they don't.
Stop calling me a traitor and I'll stop coming after you personally. Keep doing it, and I'll keep pointing out that you're the crazy uncle in the attic who thinks he's St. Jerome.
Youre the solipsistic here, who mistakes his own opinions on the way things ought to be with the way things are. Im the realist who discusses the way things ARE, whether I like it or not.
Welcome to the Twilight Zone and the tpaine Court of the Imagination.
Just to get you acclimated to the tpaine Court of the Imagination, here are a few unique provisions guaranteed to make you wonder why you bothered to study law.
In the long run, SCOTUS opinions don't mean much, as people,and the legislators they elect have the right to ignore them, and write new laws that circumvent their supposed edicts.
The US Supreme Court has the authority to "interpret" the US Constitution, but their 'authority' is to issue opinions, -- opinions which are NOT binding on the legislative, -- or the executive branch.
During a discussion with Nolu Chan, he asserted that an amendment repealing the 2nd could be ratified, and become a valid part of our Constitution. I contend such an amendment would be unconstitutional.
Our system of government is in fact "Catholic", in the sense that it is based on traditions of institutions dealing with each other in certain ways. You would like for our system of government to be "Protestant", with the written Constitution as the "Sola Scriptura" document which anybody, like you, can read and know what it all means just from the words in that document.
That IS NOT our system of government. And at NO POINT from its ratification by the Founding Fathers through the establishment of judicial review by the Founding Fathers (in Marbury) until today has our government resembled anything remotely approaching what you insist is "The Constitution" above.
The law is what I have been saying - what I have been educated in, and am licensed to say in two jurisdictions.
Stop calling me a traitor and I'll stop coming after you personally.
Feel free to come after me in any way you dream up. ---- I say dream because your replies are becoming increasingly bizarre, -- and unlike what a licensed professional would post.
Our Constitution is quite clear that we --- shall make no laws respecting the 'establishments' (beliefs) of our various religions..
Your 'realistic' desire to make religious law is unconstitutional, and gives aid and comfort to enemies who desire the same...
Our written Constitution is a document which anybody, like me, can read and know what it basically means just from the words in the document.
Lawyers like you, hiding behind your !icenses, disagree, naturally. Boast on...
BTW, - concerning Marbury: ---- Jefferson disagreed with Marshall's reasoning -- -
"You seem to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so. They have, with others, the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps.... Their power [is] the more dangerous as they are in office for life, and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots. It has more wisely made all the departments co- equal and co-sovereign within themselves."
Lawyers like you, hiding behind your !icenses, disagree, naturally. Boast on...
It's not a question of hiding behind a license, it's a question of education and standards.
You have a political opinion. You like your political opinion. You read a document - the Constitution - and you read it in a way that allows you to say what you say.
That's nice.
It has no bearing on reality.
I have a law degree. That's not boasting, it's a fact. I have passed the bar exam in two states. Again, not boasting - a fact. In order to pass the bar exam, I had to get a series of questions right. See, there are right and wrong answers in the law, and you don't pass the bar and get a license to practice law unless you get enough of the answers right. The same is true with law school: you don't get the degree if you can't get the exam questions right.
There's no partial credit.
Now, thing is, some of the right answers - what the law IS - do not suit me. What I do that is different from you is that I recognize where my politics differ from the law, and I try to figure out how to get the law to change.
What you do is simply change the meaning of words and declare your opinion to be the law.
It reminds me of the joke about the engineer and the economist who wash up on a desert island with a box of canned food. They each go off to devise a way to get the cans opened. The engineer comes back with a device he made that used two rocks to crush the can, causing the contents to slide out into an waiting half-coconut shell.
The economist's solution began with "Well, first we assume a can opener. That's what you're doing: you're assuming a can opener.
The US Supreme Court has the authority to "interpret" the US Constitution, but their 'authority' is to issue opinions, -- opinions which are NOT binding on the legislative, -- or the executive branch. ---- tpaine posted
Thank you for posting some of my opinions, as I stand by them all..
Jefferson disagreed with Marshall's reasoning in Marbury:---
You seem to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so. They have, with others, the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps.... Their power [is] the more dangerous as they are in office for life, and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots. It has more wisely made all the departments co- equal and co-sovereign within themselves.
Lawyers like you, hiding behind your !icenses, disagree, naturally. Boast on... ---- tpaine
I have a law degree. That's not boasting, it's a fact. I have passed the bar exam in two states. Again, not boasting - a fact. In order to pass the bar exam, I had to get a series of questions right. See, there are right and wrong answers in the law, and you don't pass the bar and get a license to practice law unless you get enough of the answers right.
Law exams are made up by other lawyers, proving of course, that if you want to be licensed you must agree with other lawyers. --- Ridiculous.
You claim that: --- "What I do that is different from you is that I recognize where my politics differ from the law, and I try to figure out how to get the law to change." -------------------- Well, I do exactly the same , the only difference being, --- I make sure that the new laws i advocate, are not UNCONSTITUTIONAL...
Our Constitution is quite clear that we --- shall make no laws respecting the 'establishments' (beliefs) of our various religions..
Your 'realistic' desire to make religious law is unconstitutional, and gives aid and comfort to enemies who desire the same...
Law exams are made up by other lawyers, proving of course, that if you want to be licensed you must agree with other lawyers. --- Ridiculous.
It does not prove that. Rather, it proves that if you want to be licensed, you have to know what the law IS.
YES, what the law is, IS determined by other lawyers - mainly judges. YES, most certainly that law is often the result of real abusive power grabs by judges. YES, I find quite a bit of the law offensive. But YES, the law IS what the courts and the lawyers who run things have decided it is. The courts WILL uphold that law, and the cops with their guns WILL enforce what the courts say. So YES, if you want to take other people's money for practicing in front of American courts, you have to know what the law IS - what will be enforced, what will happen.
You can think what you want to think without a license, but you can't go take big fees from people asserting that your opinion of the law actually IS the law. It isn't. The law is what the courts - which is to say the lawyers who sit on the bench - SAY the law is.
You don't hire a lawyer to have a philosophical discussion. You hire a lawyer to know the law for you, and to tell you what will happen if you do thus and so. It's not a matter of the lawyer's opinion so much as knowledge of the state of the actual LAW - whether the law is ultimately LEGITIMATE or not is not the question.
Obviously if the Supreme Court overrules Roe and bans abortion, it is not going to do that by stating "We do this because Rome has spoken." They will, rather, read the words of the Constitution and say that nobody can be deprived of life without due process, and due process is not possible for innocent unborn babies, so THEREFORE abortion must be unconstitutional. That's how they would do this.
Sure, this would have the EFFECT of erecting the Catholic canon law as the law of the nation, but the reason given for doing so will be pure-as-the- wind-driven-snow constitutionalism.
The laws against stealing are also religious, but we don't have to strike those down on that account either.
You seem to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, ---- Jefferson, writing to Marshall
It may be dangerous, but it has the virtue of being true. Judges are the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions. ---- Vicomte13
That is your opinion, it is far from being true.
SCOTUS opinions can be, and are overturned by amendments, legislative law, and/or executive & public inaction...
SCOTUS opinions can be, and are overturned by amendments, legislative law, and/or executive & public inaction...
SCOTUS opinions can be erased by constitutional amendment, yes.
When a SCOTUS opinion strikes a part of a statute, Congress can indeed pass a new statute that addresses the problem, and thereby remove the barrier created by the Supreme Court opinion, yes.
Executive inaction can nullify a SCOTUS opinion. President Lincoln ignored the Court's habeas corpus rulings during the Civil War. No President has done so since. The President that did risks impeachment.
Public inaction? The public doesn't fully obey any of the laws now, so not sure what the public has to do with this.
Thank you for posting some of my opinions, as I stand by them all..
I am sure that you do. You live in your own world.
Jefferson disagreed with Marshall's reasoning in Marbury:---
And Marbury is still good law and binding U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
You failed to say what you think the significance of somebody's disagreement with the Opinion of the Court in Marbury might possibly be.
You seem to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.
"The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.... The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution...." U.S. Const., Article III
SCOTUS is the ultimate arbiter of the law, including the Constitution. Their opinion of what the law states is binding. If there is a desire for different law, the Constitution can be amended or repealed by the people.
Yep. That's the way our system works. Now, a President who had sufficient popularity and a sufficient partisan majority in Congress COULD attempt to establish a new precedent by explicitly rejecting a Supreme Court decision as itself being unconstitutional, directing the executive branch to not enforce the decision, and then attempt to brazen it out through a combination of public support, obedience by the executive agencies, and non-impeachment by Congress. That would certainly establish a precedent of executive override, but the circumstances would have to be quite peculiar to pull it off, I think.
In a similar vein, the Queen of England has the plenary veto power as a reserved power. She COULD veto an act of Parliament, but to do so would risk a Parliamentary stripping of her veto, so she would have to do it under a circumstance in which the bulk of the people were unambiguously with her, or where the Crown agencies actually were willing to obey her and not a corrupt and unpopular Prime Minister.
In short, a constitutional crisis could change the rules, but nothing short of that is going to.
SCOTUS opinions can be, and are overturned by amendments, legislative law, and/or executive & public inaction... ---- tpaine
SCOTUS opinions can be erased by constitutional amendment, yes.
When a SCOTUS opinion strikes a part of a statute, Congress can indeed pass a new statute that addresses the problem, and thereby remove the barrier created by the Supreme Court opinion, yes.
Executive inaction can nullify a SCOTUS opinion. President Lincoln ignored the Court's habeas corpus rulings during the Civil War. No President has done so since. The President that did risks impeachment.
Public inaction? The public doesn't fully obey any of the laws now, so ----- Vic
Nolu, ------ SCOTUS is the ultimate arbiter of the law, including the Constitution. Their opinion of what the law states is binding. If there is a desire for different law, the Constitution can be amended or repealed by the people.
You two have some differences. I suggest you discuss them...
I thank Vic for his honesty in agreeing with my points...
I don't think Nolu and I actually disagree at all.
I was saying that Supreme Court opinions are law, and they are.
You mentioned a series of ways, some legitimate, some not, by which a SCOTUS opinion can be overturned. In other words, ways in which a higher law changes a lower law. That's true.
But if it comes to a square on constitutional issue, the Supreme Court trumps. Probably the cardinal example would be a law passed by Congress and signed by the President that purported to strip the Supreme Court of the power of Constitutional review. SCOTUS would strike down that law as unconstitutional.
You mentioned a series of ways, some legitimate, some not, by which a SCOTUS opinion can be overturned. In other words, ways in which a higher law changes a lower law. That's true.
But if it comes to a square on constitutional issue, the Supreme Court trumps.
SCOTUS opinions can be, and are overturned by amendments, legislative law, and/or executive & public inaction.. -------------------- ALL are legitimate when the scotus opinion is unconstitutional. (IE, Dred Scott)
Digress as you will, the fact remains, your desire to pass religious laws is repugnant, and gives aid and comfort to our enemies.
SCOTUS opinions can be, and are overturned by amendments, legislative law, and/or executive & public inaction.. -------------------- ALL are legitimate when the scotus opinion is unconstitutional. (IE, Dred Scott)
Digress as you will, the fact remains, your desire to pass religious laws is repugnant, and gives aid and comfort to our enemies.
Very little of that is true.
Yes, SCOTUS opinions can be, and have been overturned through constitutional amendments, and through legislation. They cannot legally be, and none has ever in fact been, overturned by either executive or public inaction.
There is nothing legitimate, under our current understanding of our government, about disregarding an "unconstitutional" Supreme Court decision. We have never had a case, nor developed any theory of jurisprudence, whereby a Supreme Court decision has itself been, or could be, "declared unconstitutional". There is no body under the Constitution who has ever been viewed as being able to make such a declaration. The people can, of course, AMEND the Constitution, thereby rendering unconstitutional that which was constitutional before, but that is not disregarding the Supreme Court. It is, rather, overriding the court through the amendment of the court's governing document.
No mechanism exists in our tradition for cancellation of a SCOTUS opinion through public inaction. It's not written into the Constitution, and it's never happened.
Executive inaction happened on two occasions: Andrew Jackson ignored SCOTUS on an Indian deportation question, and Lincoln routinely ignored Supreme Court writs of habeas corpus. Both Jackson and Lincoln were very popular presidents, and Lincoln was fighting a war in which the better part of the political opposition had seceded. Neither of these behaviors produced a precedent that any subsequent President has dared to emulate.
Andrew Johnson defied a law, the Tenure of Office Act, and was impeached over it. He survived impeachment and therefore "won" the point (Stanton was not reinstated as Secretary of War). Nevertheless, though he "won" the specific point over which he was impeached (in the sense that he retained the office, and Stanton was not reinstated, so Johnson successfully resisted the law), the precedent that people remember is not that Johnson prevailed on the specific point, but that he was impeached. No President since has dared directly and openly defy the law.
So, you may say that executive or public inaction are means by which SCOTUS opinions are overturned, but that's never actually happened.
Dred Scott was overturned by the enactment of the 13th Amendment,
The notion that a Supreme Court decision could ITSELF be unconstitutional has never been part of our system. I will grant that a very bold President COULD make such an argument. Whether he would prevail or not would be a political matter. Were Trump to try it, he would not have survived. Even a very popular President like FDR took a real hit when he set about threatening to pack the Supreme Court to get his way. American people are wary of actions that would fundamentally violate their sense of civics.