Perry's Position on the Courts

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry wrote about several interesting ideas in his book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save American from Washington. He wants to make changes to the Constitution for the United States, some of which appear to be to the benefit of  the people, but in reality, they would give Congress more power than they presently usurp, beyond  the limits granted by the Constitution.

Perry would like to abolish lifetime tenure for federal judges by amending Article III, Section I of the Constitution:

"The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish."

Perry's assertion that the court is not accountable to the people is correct. The court is not accountable to the people nor to the legislature. The court is only accountable to the Constitution and to the Common Law, the Law of the Land. The fact that the courts assert powers beyond those delegated by the Constitution is in fact reason to enforce the Constitution, not change it.

The Supreme Court's beginnings of interpretation of the Constitution can be traced to Marbury v. Madison, 5 I. S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803) which for the first time, allowed the court to give itself the power to interpret the meaning of the Constitution; to write new law in a very real way that subverts the powers of the legislature, who by Constitutional authority, is  the branch of government responsible for making law.

To force the court to be accountable to the people subjects the courts to rule by the emotions of the general populace, which is mob rule. That is contrary to all the ideals of government that our founders were seeking to accomplish with the design of the Constitution and its clear limits and separation of powers.

Perry feels that an amendment that will permit Congress to override a Supreme Court decision with a two-thirds majority, would essentially make any decision reached by the court reversible if the political climate so deems. Not a very good idea at all. It ends the Judicial Branch of Government and puts Congress in the position of not only writing the laws, but to change them as they deem fit toward the agenda of the party in majority office.

Perhaps if Perry was really so Constitutional, he will bring up the original thirteenth Article of Amendment to the Constitution for the united States of America. It has been omitted from printed copies of the Constitution for decades, mainly since the end of the Civil War.

For those that are not familiar with this Amendment:

"If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain any title of nobility or honour, or shall without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them."

There was an addition proposed by the Senate that would have granted Congress the power to enact punishments of fines and incarceration, but it was defeated.

There are strong arguments that make the 14th Amendment invalid, and the 16th and 17th are also suspect due to the conditions and time during their passages and ratifications. The history of that is beyond the scope of t his post, yet it is important that everyone researches the Constitution and knows it well.

The Constitution belongs to us, We the People, or most relevantly, we the Sovereign Individuals residing within the boundaries of one of  the many Sovereign States. It is from us that the Constitution is passed to the federal government, in unanimous agreement with the representatives of the States and the People, as to the powers and limitations granted to that federal government on our behalf.

Ron Paul is the ONLY candidate who not only understands this, but his career in Congress demonstrates he lives by it. He is the one that has identified the causes and supplied the proper remedies to the problems of our nation.