Write Your Rep Now, Dammit

Okay, this has got me pissed off.

For those of you who haven't caught the cries of outrage which, fortunately, seems to be rising up about that, the link in question is about H.R. 3920, introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives a couple of days ago. The purpose of the bill is to allow the United States Congress to reverse Supreme Court decisions. Gee, I wonder which court ruling set this off.

It's being spun as a judicial accountability act; the standard trash about Unelected Judges Writing Our Laws For Us, which translates as "Waah, I want to write unconstitutional law and get away with it." This is a case of Congressional leaders - you can find yours here - acting in a childish manner even for them, to the point of refusing to recognize rulings of the independent Supreme Court simply because they adhere to the law and not popular bigotry.

So what are they suggesting? Mr. Lewis(KY) Mr. DeMint, Mr. Everett, Mr. Pombo, Mr. Coble, Mr. Collins, Mr. Goode, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Franks (AZ), Mr. Hefley, Mr. Doolittle, and Mr. Kingston are suggesting the abolition of the judicial branch of the United States government.

Oh, I'm certain they're putting it in terms of judicial accountability, protecting our nation from itself, or whatever else. But with this law in effect, just what the hell purpose does the Supreme Court, or the judges whose rulings feed into it, serve? The entire point of an independent judiciary is that they are able to issue rulings which, although controversial, can be legally correct and suffer no repurcussions. The above House representatives wish to eliminate this status, reducing the judicial branch to a subsidiary of Congress and thereby giving Congress the power to both create and interpret the legality of the bills it passes into law.

The effect of this bill will be to declare all acts constitutional, provided that Congress passes them. Everything from mundane tax laws to the Reinstitute Segregation And Kill All The Muslims Act of 2005 will be immune to judicial interference, because Congress can, with this law, jam their fingers in their ears and say "I can't hear you" while using the Constitution as toilet paper.

If you live in the United States you will, of course, be writing your representatives in House and Senate about this, in addition to whoever else you know. You will do so on paper or by telephone, as emailing is unreliable enough to be a waste of time, and putting a bit of effort into your notice won't kill you anyway. You'll also do this right now, because this is probably the one piece of law proposed during the Bush Administration which most desperately needs opposing.

Draft? As unappetizing as it is, there's nothing technically wrong with it. USA PATRIOT Act or the Patriot II bill ridered into tax laws? They're flagrantly unconstitutional at the very least, but there was at least the provision for a Supreme Court to overturn the acts.

H.R. 3920 will eliminate even that avenue of safety. I'd like you to all take a minute to think about what would happen to legislation in the United States once judicial review is eliminated. After that minute has passed, I want you to start writing your reps and passing the word on this to anyone else you know of.

There are twelve members of Congress whose political careers desperately need to end with the conclusion of their terms. I want a large enough shitstorm set into motion to purge these traitors from the American polity, taking the fragments of their totalitarian ideals with them.

Get to it, guys. Don't think you can wait until next time.

Posted by zibblsnrt at March 16, 2004 11:54 AM

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