Monday, May 01, 2006
Who Has The Final Word?
Who has the final word on our constitution? I thought we settled this long ago. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Marshall had this debate in the formative years of our great nation. The Framers of our constitution followerd Montesqieu's advice that governmental powers must be seperated to prevent any one person or group of people from accumulating abusable power. Thomas Jefferson thought he could impose his own constitutional interpretations on Congressional law, disobeying what he thought violated the constitution and even ignoring Supreme Court rulings when they told him he was wrong. Eventually, the powers of the Supreme Court were vindicated - the Judiciary has the power to interpret the constitution, not the Executive or the Legislative Branch. Now, hundreds of years after we settled this debate, President Bush has tried to stir the pot again by quietly declaring that he, by himself, can declare hundreds of acts of Congress unconstitutional and ignore them.
What happened to Balance of power? Because of Presidents' ambitious tendencies, the Supreme Court of the United States had to fight an epic battle in the early years of this country to win the power granted to them at the very outset of our country's founding. See Article III and Article VI of our constitution and Federalist 78.
The Supreme Court must be the supreme arbiter of our laws. Mr. Bush - if Congress steps over their line and into your power sue them. I am serious. If they do something unconstitutional, take them to the Supreme Court and have the court tell them they are wrong. But you can't just take that power on yourself.
Bush seems to be trying to consolidate the powers of all three branches into his own office - undercurrent the very foundation of our society. By quietly overturning about 750 congressional laws by himself, he seems to be acting as a court, and when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales came to congress to testify, he said something to the effect of "If congress has any legislative ideas, we're happy to listen," implying that Bush wants to be the primary legislator as well.
Well Mr. Bush, if you wanted to legislate, you should have run for congress. If you wanted to arbitrate, you should have become a judge. But as President of the United States, you simply do not have the powers to do what you are doing.
