Fight For Representative Government - and The Court

There’s little that has not been said about the upcoming battle over the Supreme Court nominee that has not been said more eloquently by others.

The Powerline Guys have it dead right:

This is how the French news paper Liberation described the upcoming Supreme Court battle here in the U.S.:

In the United States, the appointment (for life) of a judge of the Supreme Court is an enormous affair. The president’s choice can have a long-term impact on the life of society in general, and on public freedoms in particular. The justices of the Court, known as the nine "sages," every year, with their judgments, decide the law. The U.S. Supreme Court holds, at the same time, the power of [France’s] Supreme Court of Appeal, the Council of State and the French Constitutional Council. At the very heart of American political life, the Court is the final arbiter of all the great issues of U.S. society: it was the Supreme Court that initiated race desegregation in schools (Brown v. Board of Education, 1954) and authorized abortion (Roe v. Wade, 1973).

That wasn't, of course, the role envisioned for the Court by the Founders, but it certainly is the one favored by contemporary liberals, so it isn't hard to see why Supreme Court appointments are awaited with such interest.

Acceding this much power to the Court is deadly to the concept of American Democracy. In a freeform conversation recently with a Virginia State Senator, he mentioned that the Virginia Legislature twice passed, and the Governor signed, a bill outlawing partial birth abortions. And in both cases, the courts ruled against the laws.

And here’s the kicker: he is personally opposed to partial birth abortion, his constituents are opposed as are most of the people in the state, but … he was critical of his fellow legislators passing the bills because he KNEW that the court would strike the bills down. Yet the Virginia constitution is silent on abortion as is the US constitution. Why does this man question the wisdom of his fellow legislators instead of the wisdom – and the unconstitutional usurpation of power – of the courts? This Senator has taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the State of Virginia and yet he has handed his right to uphold that oath – and part of his manhood – to the courts as having a superior right. That is the end of representative government and the beginning of dictatorship. Thanks to the usurpation of the courts and the supine acquiescence of the legislature, our elected representatives can take care of the minor issues of government, the courts will decide the major issues.

So what can we do? One thing we can do is to stop being spectators. Thanks to the Internet, we can make our voices heard. This is the Website of the US Senate. Find your Senator and contact him or her. Tell your friends. Send this post to as many people as are on your mailing list. Don’t let the Left drown you out. This fight is critical and may decide your children’s’ futures as well as your own.