In July, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay warned us of what to expect.
Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) told reporters that he plans to use “jurisdiction stripping” measures to achieve other social policy goals as well.
For example, he will push legislation to stop federal courts from hearing lawsuits related to the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
He wasn’t kidding. Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee, proving that Congress prefers to ignore substantive issues and stick to divisive culture-war fights, approved a measure to forbid federal courts from even hearing cases regarding the Pledge of Allegiance.
The House Judiciary Committee yesterday voted along party lines to eradicate the power of federal courts — including the Supreme Court — to alter the Pledge of Allegiance. The Republican leadership has promised to bring the highly-charged legislation up for a vote on the House floor and is expected to do so next week.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has told the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), that he approves of the bill and would push a Senate version of it if the House acted.
Whether one thinks Congress was right to change the Pledge in 1954 or not, anyone who takes our constitutional system of law seriously should shudder at what the Republicans are up to.
First, I should note that this is a political scam for the campaign season.
If vulnerable Democratic incumbents reject Akin’s bill, Republicans would likely use the votes as political ammunition this fall. A survey conducted this summer by the First Amendment Center and American Journalism Review magazine found that 70 percent of Americans said that the words “one nation, under God” in the pledge did not violate the First Amendment.
Conservatives claim that the support is much higher and that close to 90 percent of Americans support the pledge as is.
Classic GOP con. If you vote against a measure that will take away the federal courts’ ability to even hear a case, then you must be against the Pledge of Allegiance, right? If you respect the separation of powers, then you also reject baseball, Mom, and apple pie.
Second, even Republican lawmakers of principle — who obviously know better — are bucking under party pressure.
Until yesterday, [Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee] had steadfastly opposed efforts to strip power from the courts, even to further the GOP political and social policy agendas.
“He’s had a reluctance to use Article III, Section II,” said Akin, referring to an often-overlooked section of the Constitution that Republicans plan to use to rein in the courts. “I think he sees it as a strong tool and something that could be misused, and he has a fundamental respect for the courts.”
Akin said he first approached Sensenbrenner about passing his bill through the Judiciary Committee three years ago. At first Sensenbrenner declined to act, citing his belief that the legislation would die in the Senate. And even after Hatch told Akin that he was eager to move companion legislation, Sensenbrenner remained leery of moving forward, Akin said in an interview yesterday.
However, with Election Day drawing near and pressure from House Republican leaders and rank-and-file members mounting, Sensenbrenner suddenly altered his position this week.
Gotta love election-year conversions, when ideology stiffens and backbones weaken.
Finally, please note that the legislation has 225 co-sponsors, including almost every Republican in the chamber. In other words, we’ve reached a point in which virtually the entire GOP House caucus believes it is within their authority to simply reshuffle the separation of powers, take away the federal courts’ ability to hear certain cases, and believes the notions of an “independent judiciary” and a system of “checks and balances” simply don’t mean anything anymore.
I emphasize this because people should realize that it’s not just a few random nuts who are willing to endorse a radical and unconstitutional agenda. At this point, more than nine in 10 Republican lawmakers will follow Tom DeLay’s lead on this, and that’s genuinely scary.