Roy Black Quotes
Unless the courts have the power to review the legislative and executive decisions of the nation, we do not have the rule of law… If we don’t follow our own rules, our own Constitution, then, my God, what are we fighting for?
Roy Black, Attorney, Comment referring to judicial review of the arrested Al Queda terrorists, CNN Late Edition, August 18, 2002
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Despite Ziglar’s and other officials pointing out the illegality, illegal sweeps and arrests were made without warrants or constitutional requirements.
One of the conundrums of our constitutional system is who has the last word as to what the Constitution means. Essentially it is the judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court. But there are those who believe that the current popular majority should have a say in what is or is not constitutional. If so the legislative branch should have the last word. Still others say that the President is the only person elected by ALL the people, so his opinion most reflects the will of the public. And then there are most who argue that the Constitutional system was created just to avoid the power of currently popular majorities, and the courts should decide based on the Constitution itself. So the statement has very little meaning except that Phillips thinks that the courts have too much power. Whoever gets to decide what is or is not Constitutional will be accused of being “over” the Constitution by those who don’t like the decisions. In our system, that is the courts.
See John Marshall's later (1803) use of the concept and term "repugnant." {606483}
The two law enforcement officers had testified that they arrested demonstrators who had “come to break the law” and had not at that point broken any laws.
The executive order gave the power to the Secretary of the Treasury to block and freeze assets of anyone or any organization that was assisting the insurgents and abetting the internecine violence in Iraq. Typical of many George W. Bush efforts, the idea was a good one and indeed necessary, but the way it was implemented was very poor. Bush was always trying to seize more power for the Executive Branch and wanted as little judicial review as possible. Under the Executive Order if any organization were accused of assisting the insurgents and a lawyer defended them from having their assets blocked, then the lawyer could also have his assets blocked as he was “assisting” the offending organization. The purpose was to prevent undemocratic elements from thwarting democracy in Iraq, but the method implemented was itself quite undemocratic—a contradiction that Bush found himself in very often. Allowing for judicial approval before seizure would have helped a great deal.
Roy Black is an American civil and criminal defense trial attorney. He is known for his gaining an acquittal, in 1991, of William Kennedy Smith on charges of rape and for his representation of conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh. Other celebrities whom Black has represented include actor Kelsey Grammer, racer Hélio Castroneves, Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis, artist Peter Max, financier Jeffrey Epstein, and Justin Bieber. Black is also informally referred to by his nickname, "The Professor."
