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House Republican wants Bush to ignore federal court ruling

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This may be a publicity stunt to appear pious in the minds of voters, but Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.) wrote a letter to the White House last week that captured the lunacy that dominates conservative thinking in the House lately.

First, a little background. There’s a Ten Commandments display in front of the Gibson County Courthouse in Princeton, Indiana. A lawsuit challenged its constitutionality, and, as usual, a federal court ruled that the display was inconsistent with church-state separation. Local officials were given 60 days to move the Decalogue to private property.

That’s where Rep. Hostettler comes in. He’s read the ruling and come up with an idea — Hostettler wants Bush, as head of the executive branch of government, to refuse to enforce the court order.

U.S. Rep. John Hostettler today sent a letter to President Bush asking him not to enforce the unconstitutional ruling of a federal district judge who said a monument representing the Ten Commandments must be removed from the Gibson County Courthouse in Princeton, Indiana.

…This is one of the checks and balances enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, which gives federal courts the power to judge, but not to enforce its judgements [sic]. The Constitution reserves that authority to the chief executive, better known as the president.

This is what conservative legal thought in America has come to.

Hostettler’s letter to the White House argues that Bush is technically the head of the U.S. Marshals Service, which would be required to remove the Commandments display if local officials refuse to abide by the court order. Indeed, Hostettler wants everyone involved to ignore the rule of law — he wants local officials to blow off the 60-day deadline and then he wants the president to instruct U.S. Marshals not to enforce the court order.

Maybe the letter is a publicity stunt and maybe Hostettler is mad as a hatter. Either way, the fact that a member of Congress would put such lunacy in writing is frightening.