Arthur Capper Quotes

There are some conservatives who accused Brennan of altering the Constitution from the bench by his opinions. However, there is an unending debate as to how the constitutional interpreters should deal with concepts and reality that did not exist at the time of the Constitutional Convention and were unconcieved of. Some justices like Brennan believe that the principles of the Constitution should be extended and extrapolated to modernity. Others believe that in the absen?ce of specific language even Supreme Court just should not try and extrapolate. Both are reputable views and as time and technology march ahead, the issue is joined more frequently. For example, the Founding Fathers did not conceive of atomic weapons. But they insisted that Americans have the right to bear arms. An atomic bomb is a type of arm—a weapon of war and defense. Does an individual American have the right to have his own atomic bomb?

This president served his terms as allowed by the Constitution but then moved to change the constitution so that he could be the dictator as perpetual president. The purpose of constitutions is to limit and control the day to day political process and processes of reform. This stands the purpose of a constitution on its head. Modern totalitarian states almost all have constitutions. However where they differ from democracies is that the dictatorships ignore their constitutions, constantly suspend them in “emergencies” or change them at will to serve the interests of the ruling authorities. See {622125} for a Supreme Court Justice’s view of this kind of situation.

Jefferson thought that the possibility that a man could become President even though more Americans voted for his opponent was undemocratic and a great flaw in our Constitution. It has actually happened several times and each time the Electoral College debate renewed, but there has never been enough concern to produce a Constitutional Amendment.

The Grammar Curmudgeon. This is one side of a fundamental argument within America as to the Constitution. The other side argues that the original intent of the Founding Fathers should prevail. That their principles are what has made America great, and we do not want to deviate from those. In determining Constitutionality, it is the original intent that should prevail even if the issues are ones of which the founding fathers had no inkling such as the ability of a nuclear power to destroy much of the nation before Congress could be called into session or that police could use geo-positioning devices to track the movement of citizens. Or that women could prove themselves the equal of (or superior to) in intellectual pursuits and would want to participate in politics and policy making.

The then Assistant Attorney General worked with the President to pack the Supreme Court, but advised against the appointment of a popular Senator who might be too conservative.

Huckabee, a fundamentalist Christian Minister in addition to being a politician, had been very tolerant of other religions and their rights. However, on the abortion question he seemed to be calling for a Constitutional amendment to make abortion illegal. The likelihood of passing such a Constitutional Amendment given the supermajority requirement was very low given the national division on this polarizing issue. A very careful reading of the candidate’s statement shows that he never literally advocated an amendment. He just stated that is would be easier to change the Constitution than to change the world of God which to believers was immutable. Thus his statement was true, yet some interpreted it as a very clever way of making a moral statement without committing to a course of action that would deny women the right to make decisions over the use and risks to their own bodies, souls, and lives.

The Prime Minister and his Tory Party was calling for Senate Reform