Assault on the Judiciary

[Happy Monkey]

Here's DeLay's latest salvo in the neo/theocon war on judicial review:

Washington Times
Mr. DeLay: I blame Congress over the last 50 to 100 years for not standing up and taking its responsibility given to it by the Constitution. The reason the judiciary has been able to impose a separation of church and state that's nowhere in the Constitution is that Congress didn't stop them. The reason we had judicial review is because Congress didn't stop them. The reason we had a right to privacy is because Congress didn't stop them.
Mr. Dinan: How can Congress stop them?
Mr. DeLay: There's all kinds of ways available to them.
Mr. Dinan: You tried two last year on the Defense of Marriage Act and the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Senate didn't go along with those.
Mr. DeLay: We're having to change a whole culture in this - a culture created by law schools. People really believe that these are nine gods, and that all wisdom is vested in them. This means it's a slow, long-term process. I mean, we passed six bills out of the House limiting jurisdiction. We passed an amendment last September breaking up the Ninth Circuit. These are all things that have passed the House of Representatives.
Mr. Dinan: Are you going to pursue impeaching judges?
Mr. DeLay: I'm not going to answer that. I have asked the Judiciary Committee to look at this. They're going to start holding hearings on different issues. They are more capable than me to look at this issue and take responsibility, given the, whatever, the Constitution.

If judges don't interpret the, whatever, the Constitution of the United States in a way you like, impeach them or take away their jurisdiction! We can't have people running around thinking they have any right to privacy.

[wolf]

Per the constitution, we don't. No matter how ridiculous it sounds, it's not specifically enumerated.

[vsp]

The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution">Ninth Amendment</a> covers a lot of ground without much specific enumeration.

Even considering who he was talking to (the Moonie Times), I'm still shaking my head at this excerpt. (Most of the rest of the interview was wonkspeak.) If Democratic campaign wonks aren't busy hammering out ads _right now_ that say:

<i>"...The Republicans don't think church and state SHOULD be separated.
...The Republicans don't think that two-hundred-year-old legal principles should still apply.
...The Republicans don't think YOU SHOULD HAVE a right to privacy.

What do YOU think about that?"</i>

then the lot of them should be fired.

[Clodfobble]

Just a clarification, when he's talking about "the right to privacy" in this context I'm certain he's talking about abortion. Roe v. Wade centered on a rather liberal (dictionary-definition, not political-definition) interpretation of what constituted an invasion of privacy, specifically that abortion could not be outlawed because it was an invasion of privacy. A woman's right to privacy = her right to have an abortion.

Honestly, I'm pro-choice. But I've read a lot on the subject and it was a biiiiiiig stretch to interpret the clauses they did in the way that they did. I still think they should have done it because it was the right thing to do, but it doesn't have a legitimate Constitutional basis.

[vsp]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Just a clarification, when he's talking about "the right to privacy" in this context I'm certain he's talking about abortion.

And sodomy. Don't imagine that they've forgotten that.

[Elspode]

From my (probably ill-informed) point of view, privacy is at the root of the concept of "presumed innocent until proven guilty". Think about it...we are all supposed to be law-abiding citizens who are doing nothing wrong until we are suspected, investigated and a probable cause is discovered, right? Well, in the name of national security, that whole presumption of innocence thing is being slowly turned on its head. You pretty much have to prove at every turn that you *aren't* doing anything wrong before you can actually *do* anything.

Give up the right to privacy, and you are under the thumb of your government, all in the name of security, or morality, or finance, or whatever. A controlled population makes it easy to keep things running smoothly, and the money flowing into the right people's pockets.

I'm pretty disillusioned with the current administration by now. A greedier, more controlling bunch of powermongers I have never seen.

[wolf]

Except for the last bunch of greedy, controlling, powermongers.

[Happy Monkey]

No, this group is worse on all fronts, with the possible exception of white house nookie.

[Elspode]

One group wants my guns and my cigarettes, the other wants my soul and my money.

Decisions, decisions...how about we kick all of the useless SOBs out of government and elect some freaking unaffiliated moderates who actually care about the country and their electorate, and not their political donors and special-interest cronies?

[Troubleshooter]

Short of a nuclear bombardment I don't see that happening.

[lookout123]

ok, TS - you work on the nuclear solution and Els and I will start looking for suitable replacements for the asshat brigade.

[Troubleshooter]

Well, according to here, here, here, here and a few other places we're going to be having a new program and new weapons on hand, so we should be able to pick up a few of the older weapons relatively easily.

[jaguar]

No, this group is worse on all fronts, with the possible exception of white house nookie.

Blowjobs. Illegal wars, nuclear weapons, trying to ban contraceptives, destroying the Atlantic alliance. Yea, about even. Delay is one of those people who you can say unequivocally say the world would be better off if they were taken to a remote desert location and made to dig their own shallow graves.

[Troubleshooter]

You could probably add John Bolton to the list. He's pretty damn scary. Check him out in his own inimimimimitable fashion here.

[jaguar]

Bolton is just a halfwit. He has the political nouse of a grapefruit on a good day but he makes for a good laugh, delay is a slimy piece of shit.