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To: Sun

"While I want President Bush to pick strict Constructionalists anyway, would it matter in this case?"



Unfortunately, more than you can imagine. Section 5 of the 14th Amendment gave Congress the power to legislate for its enforcement because the Reconstruction Congress did not trust courts to enforce the rights conferred by Section 1 of the 14th Amendment (i.e., Due Process, Privileges and Immunities and Equal Protection). This legislative power would thus include the authority to legislate regarding the scope of Section 1. However, the "modern" view of judicial power (also known as the "imperialist" view) claims that only the judicial branch of government may interpret any clause in the Constitution, so a Supreme Court in which an O'Connor is the swing vote would likely rule that Congress may not legislate to include unborn human beings within the coverage of Section 1 of the 14th Amendment. We need a strict constructionist, not merely a pro-lifer, to replace O'Connor in the Supreme Court, and given that Kennedy has been wobblier than ever of late we may need an additional strict constructionist to replace Stevens (who may retire soon, although he may try to wait until after the next presidential election in the hopes that a fellow liberal is named to replace him).


70 posted on 10/25/2005 6:53:08 AM PDT by AuH2ORepublican (http://auh2orepublican.blogspot.com/)
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To: AuH2ORepublican

Thanks for the info.

I'm learning all the time. :)


71 posted on 10/25/2005 2:04:59 PM PDT by Sun (Hillary Clinton is pro-ILLEGAL immigration. Don't let her fool you. She has a D- /F immigr. rating.)
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