Posted on 08/21/2003 8:19:37 AM PDT by outlawcam
I hope you will forgive me in contacting you, though I am not a resident of Alabama. However, as your decision to enforce an invalid federal court ruling affects my state, the issue has utmost importance to Texas--every state, in fact--and me.
In your response to the Alabama House Minority Leader, Jim Carns, you stated several times that you have rigorously defended the public display of the Ten Commandments, particularly as it related to Chief Justice Roy Moore. Given that you are likewise bound to obey the Constitution of the United States as you are the Alabama Constitution, this would imply that you believe, left to your own devices of interpretation and logic, the display of the Ten Commandments, displayed as it was at the Alabama Supreme Court, is allowed and protected under both Constitutions.
Later in your response, you said, "Compliance by state officials with a valid federal court order would involve no abdication of any power whatsoever."
However, as the Supreme Court and lower courts are subserviant to the Constitution, any federal court order that is in violation of the Constitution is, by definition, an invalid court order. As, stated earlier, you believe it is in federal official's proper authority, under both Constitutions, to display the Ten Commandments, doesn't it necessarily mean that the federal usurpation of that proper authority is an invalid court order?
I beseech you to NOT allow the enforcement of this illegal order--not just for the sake of Alabama, but for the sake of all of America. Like it or not, though you are rightly accountable to the people of Alabama, you are a citizen of the United States, and right now your actions affect all of us.
The issue is one of the just and proper acknowledgement of God in public--it's true--but also one of representation of the duely elected officials in Alabama. The federal court that issued this order (which, as pointed out by Judge Moore, displays the Greek goddess Themis on its building) has no judge elected by the citizens of the state of Alabama, and you are allowing them to tell your state to violate what you believe is the just and valid application of personal and state resources under both federal and state constitutions. It is your obligation to ensure this does not happen. Do NOT let these usurpers of the United States Constitution force you to violate individual and state rights PROTECTED by the Constitution.
The Supreme Court (which has the Ten Commandments not just displayed, but engraved in its courthouse) cannot validly issue any order that is in contravention to the Constitution's plain wording, in spite of the case law over the past fifty years. Case law is and always must be a tool of the Constitution, not the other way around.
Although I do not expect a response since I am not a citizen of your state, if you choose to respond via public venue, I will be most grateful.
Now now, you don't hear me calling you names, do you? I'm tempted to hit the abuse button, but let's see if I can invoke from you some semblance of an intellectual argument.
The question is whether or not the court's order is valid. Care to respond to that, or do you just enjoy name-calling?
A state Attorney General is not a member of the Judicial Branch. Pryor does not get to determine whether an order is valid.
He just has to enforce it.
Not by me.
If it were illegal, it would be overturned by an even higher court (it wasn't), if they were wrong, the highest court in the land would overturn it (they didn't).
So you're saying that whatever the highest court rules is always right? It is infallible?
He is not a member of the judicial branch, and therefore he is independent from their interpretation. He is charged with upholding the Constitution, which has a higher authority than the courts. So of course he gets to determine whether the order is valid. He thinks so, too, if you read his letter to the House Minority Leader. In his judgement, it is constitutional to display the Ten Commandments, and he qualifies what does or not violate the tenth and eleventh amendments with the word "valid." Anything that does not conform to the Constitution is invalid, and therefore, he is not bound to enforce it.
Roy Moore is criminal with his behavior, refusing to recognize any authority
The description fits the federal courts more than Judge Moore. Moore, at least, recognizes two authorities, and has said so time and time again: The authority of the Creator and the authority of the Constitution. His actions are consistent with that view.
He can be impeached if he doesn't.
But, Pryor has said he will enforce the USSC order.
BTW, on another thread, the other eight justices have overruled Moore, and ordered the monument removed.
The higher court has no authority that the Constitution doesn't give them. That they constantly violate that authority is a commentary on us, since we refuse to hold them accountable through our representatives. It doesn't stop based on Moore's communications with God, but upon the plain meaning of the Constitution of the United States.
He can be impeached if he does. Given the reluctance of legislators to impeach unruly judges, it would be fitting in today's climate that, instead of being impeached for doing what is wrong, someone is impeached for doing what is right.
Whatever happens, we deserve what we ask for or allow.
Yes, I heard the news you mentioned. Looks like they just blinked.
Every person interprets it as he understands it. Every public official has a duty to enforce it as he understands it. That is the way the system is supposed to work. As you --at least ought to -- know, we live in a system of checks and balances. If some of those checks and balances refuse to fulfill their role on the other branches/entities, the system falls apart.
I wanted to address this really quickly. The point of the letter was to show that his decision to enforce the federal court order (Not the USSC, btw), is logically indefensible.
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