The Court Says So!
People today have been told so many times that the Court
has the final say. About what, may I ask?
Certainly the Court has no authority to make law by issuing
edicts, because the very first sentence in our Constitution lets
us know that all legislative powers granted by the Constitution
belong to the Congress. Read it yourself; Article I, Section1.
Unless we are to believe that our Constitution no longer exists,
the Constitution is the Supreme law of the land, not what some
judge, or panel of judges would decide. You see, none of them
are elected, and we, the people, are granted the right to elect
our governing members. You may see just what the role of the
Supreme Court is by reading Article III. All other federal courts
have been created by Congress in accordance with the power granted
in Article I, Section 8. That part of the Constitution enumerates
the powers granted to the government. Those sentences limit the
power of the government, friends! If Congress is given the power
to create federal courts, then it also has the power to regulate,
or even abolish, those courts.
Even the power to review laws written by Congress was assumed
by the Supreme Court in the case of Marbury v Madison, 1803.
The Court ruled that certain portions of the Judiciary Act were
unconstitutional because they tended to change the meaning of
the Constitution. The Constitution may be changed only through
the use of the amendment process, the Court ruled.
In 1937, when Roosevelt wanted Congress to increase the members
of the Supreme Court to 15, he told them he would use the decisions
of the Court to "streamline government" and "make
it more progressive". Only in those days, "progressive"
was another word for socialistic.
The Constitution says that the Congress has the power to declare
war. There is no asterisk which says the president may declare
war, yet the War Powers Act gives him the power to use our troops
in a conflict for 60 days without asking Congress for permission.
(And Clinton violated that law when he bombed Serbia!) Would
you say that violates that Constitution?
Actually, even after Pearl Harbor, FDR asked Congress to declare
war. There has been no declaration of war since that time, December
8th, 1941.
Give that idea some serious thought.