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Time to end judicial tyranny

By the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman, traditional values coalition

Last month, the House of Representatives passed in a close party-line vote the Marriage Protection Act (H.R. 3313), introduced by Indiana Republican John Hostettler.

This legislation is long overdue and is absolutely necessary if the American people are to take back control of their government from the hands of un-elected, life-time appointed federal judges.

H.R. 3313 is designed to implement an unused portion of the U.S. Constitution that gives Congress explicit and exclusive control over what kinds of cases federal courts can hear.

Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution says that Congress can regulate the appellate jurisdiction of federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court. H.R. 3313 will protect the right of the states to define marriage without interference from the federal judiciary.

Rep. Hostettler stated, “Judges can’t force their will upon the people because the Constitution doesn’t provide them with a single tool to make their rulings become reality. Unconstitutional decisions only have effect if Congress and the president allow them to.”

Hostettler’s legislation would forbid the U.S. Supreme Court and inferior federal courts from ruling on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed into law in 1996 by President Clinton. DOMA states that no state must recognize same-sex marriages from another state.

The Founding Fathers never meant for federal courts to turn into judicial tyrannies. In fact, in 1788, Alexander Hamilton wrote, “The judiciary is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power.” Liberals, of course, claim that the courts have judicial supremacy and can overturn laws as well as impose their social agendas at will. This is a myth.

In 1819, Thomas Jefferson, who probably had a fairly good grasp of how our government was to function, said: “If this opinion [of judicial supremacy] be sound, then indeed is our Constitution a complete felo de se [act of suicide].”

Yet, today, the federal courts have basically become judicial tyrants, overturning laws passed by state legislatures and Congress and legislating a radical liberal agenda. This is not the proper role of judges. Their role is to interpret laws, not create them. Congress must put an end to this usurpation of power by judges.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is a prime example of judicial tyranny in action. The justices on that court have aggressively pursued a radical agenda without regard for the Constitution or the clear reading of the law.

The latest outrage, of course, was ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because it contained the words “under God” in it. The case was overturned this year on a technicality by the U.S. Supreme Court, but the 9th Circuit and others are poised to rule that homosexual marriage is a constitutional “right” guaranteed in the Constitution.

Lawyer Phyllis Schlafly, writing in her new book, “The Supremacists: The Tyranny Of Judges And How To Stop It,” notes: “It is completely constitutional for Congress to take away from all federal courts the power to declare federal and state DOMAs unconstitutional and it’s Congress’s constitutional duty to protect the American people from judicial supremacists who might commit such an outrage. Don’t let anyone tell you that Congress can’t tell the federal courts what cases they can and cannot hear. Just read the Constitution.”

Congress should act quickly on passage of H.R. 3313. Our nation is a republic, not a judicial oligarchy. It’s time to send a clear message to liberal judges that their tyrannical rulings are coming to an end.