Posted on 03/29/2005 11:00:33 AM PST by EternalVigilance
Posted: March 29, 2005 11:44 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
The Florida state constitution declares unequivocally that in the state of Florida "the supreme executive power shall be vested in a governor … ." The word supreme means highest in authority. There can be no executive authority in the state of Florida higher than the governor. No state law can create an executive authority higher than highest in the Florida constitution. Therefore no court order based upon such a law can constitutionally create such an authority.
If the governor tells the local police in Pinellas County to step aside, they must do so, or else be arrested and tried for an assault on the government of the state, which is to say insurrection.
(If Gov. Jeb Bush fears that for some reason they would question the authority of his representatives, then he should take the necessary law enforcement officials to Tampa in person, thus making the situation crystal clear.)
Since Florida's highest law grants him supreme executive power, the governor's action would be lawful. No one in the Florida judiciary can say otherwise, since the whole basis for the doctrine of judicial review (which they invoked when they refused to apply "Terri's law") is that any law at variance with the constitution is no law at all.
Gov. Bush has said that he recognizes the injustice being done to Terri Schiavo but is powerless to stop it. He is obviously not powerless, and his view of injustice is fully warranted.
The Florida state constitution declares: "All natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty … ."
The word "inalienable" means that the rights in question cannot be given away or transferred to another by law. Now, by allowing Michael Schiavo to starve his wife to death, Judge George W. Greer transfers to Schiavo the exercise of her right to life, doing on her behalf what the Florida state constitution declares she herself could not do (since an inalienable right cannot be given away).
Schiavo's decision, and any element of the law it is based on that has the same effect, are therefore unconstitutional on the face of it.
The governor of Florida cannot be obliged to enforce unconstitutional edicts, nor can he be faulted for acting to stop an evident violation of the constitution. In his oath as governor he swore to "support, protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States and of the state of Florida."
As supreme executive, he is obliged to act in their defense, and no court order can relieve him of this responsibility.
Any order by Judge Greer that seeks to prevent him from doing his sworn duty, as he sees fit, is invalid, and any attempt by the judge to incite armed forces to enforce his order would be an act of judicial insurrection against the constitution and government of Florida.
The judge may have whatever opinion he pleases, but when he attempts to use force to back it up, he breaks the law, going against the constitution of the state, which is to say against the supreme law in Florida.
In Federalist 81, when Alexander Hamilton lists the safeguards against "judiciary encroachments on the legislative authority," he cites in particular "its total incapacity to support its usurpations by force."
Accepting the notion that judicial orders at any level may constitute an executive power superior to the chief executive would give the judiciary just such a forceful capacity.
When every judicial decision carries the implied threat of armed insurrection, a key safeguard of liberty and self-government is removed. If any state governor, or the president of the United States acts so as to encourage the judiciary to assume such executive power, or the people to believe that it may constitutionally do so, he undermines the integrity of all our constitutions, and of American self-government as a whole.
This constitutes a grave dereliction of duty and would in saner times clearly be grounds for his impeachment by a legislature intent on defending the Florida constitution against "judiciary encroachments."
By God's grace, however, Terri Schiavo still lives, and Gov. Bush may yet act to redeem himself and his constitutional authority. Courageous action would be an act of statesmanship, defending the integrity of our constitutional system and the ultimate sovereignty of the people.
We have long been awaiting the statesman who could turn a crisis into such healing. Like Ronald Reagan before him, Jeb Bush could prove himself such a man. For Terri's sake and for the sake of constitutional self-government in America, he should act now. For failure to do so, he has no excuse.
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Be sure to visit Alan Keyes' communications center for founding principles, The Declaration Foundation.
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Former Reagan administration official Alan Keyes, was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Social and Economic Council and 2000 Republican presidential candidate.
No. Whether or not prisoners receive more due process than Terri has is not relevant.
What IS relevant, is what Section 2 means--Keyes says it is absolute--that's clearly not the case, however: there are obviously people in prison and there are obviously folks that have been executed, and I don't think anyone would doubt the power of the state to imprison people.
So what section 2 must mean is that due process is required before violating the rights of life and liberty, and Terri has gotten due process, at least according to the state of Florida.
Whether or not the substantive laws of florida are bad is a different issue. The assertion that Keyes makes is that Section 2 is absolute--it ain't. Period.
I support Keyes viewpoint on this issue.
The governor can never back down from a threat like that.
a court order is not a "law" in and of itself, and it's tiring reading comments that treat one as such
Howdy!
Hail, Caesar.
Wow. His first job is to hold onto his job, eh?
He is not 'staying within his limitations as outlined in that document', he is ignoring his duty.
As a Southerner with a proud heritage, don't dare talk to me about invisible provisions or powers that politicians in Washington invent on a whim
I expect the elected official to do specifically what is outlined for him to do and nothing else. Gov. Bush has no place to get involved. However, if Dr. Keyes wants to start a constitutional crisis in the state of Florida and get enough citizens riled up about it down there, that's his business. Actually it's not as he is not a citizen of that respective state. But hell, when has that ever stopped him?
Jeb, nor any other Gov has the right to be King.
This is a stupid article. The people are going to have to force a change in our Judicial system. Jeb Bush is not God, never claimed to be and is limited as to how much he can do.
The law being used to kill Terri, and no doubt others, was passed by the Florida legislature and signed by Jeb. They support the killing of the mentally disabled by starvation and dehydration. Pretty sickening.
Thank you.
Nobody said he was king, and you know it.
YEah, I felt at the time they were bluffing. I didn't know about the cops, but I believed Greer was bluffing.
That's Saint Terri.
You support the government making that life and death decision.
I see you don't really have intellectual honesty or integrity. You do acknowledge the right of the government and acquiesce to the power of the state to make decisions in a personal life.
Thank you .. I was sure there was more than one sane person on this thread.
You're correct .. this is the result they wanted: "to carry out his illegal and unconstitutional seizure of raw power and the sheriffs at the hospice"
However, when Janet Reno did it and subverted the law and took Elian - AFTER A COURT HAD RULED THAT HE DIDN'T HAVE TO LEAVE AMERICA - these same people were throwing a fit.
Go figure!
The the people should be revolted by their legislature and keeping the phones ringing off the hooks. The legislature works for the people. And they get the state government that they deserve.
Why wasn't this law overturned between 2003 and 2005, while all of Florida was aware of the Schiavo case?
I would agree that there is a diffence in civilized discussion and the discussion that has been occuring on FR for the last 2 weeks, with a few exceptions.
That is a concocted scenario...disinformation planted for the sole purpose of protecting Jeb Bush's butt.
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